Cal Raleigh exits early as Astros rally to beat Mariners in extras
Published in Baseball
HOUSTON — Another game, no doubt, the Mariners are going to believe they should have won.
They did not, in fact, win this game, spoiling Bryce Miller’s sterling season debut and ruining a chance to climb back to .500.
The Astros rallied from a two-run deficit to beat the Mariners, 4-3 in 10 innings.
That ends the Mariners’ nine-game winning streak over Houston dating back to last season.
Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh left the game after he appeared to aggravate an injury to his right side while making a lunging catch on a disastrous defensive sequence in the bottom of the eighth inning. Raleigh remained in the game to finish the inning but did not return for the ninth, with Mitch Garver taking over behind the plate.
The Mariners dropped to 21-23. The Astros are 17-27.
Julio Rodríguez, down 1-2 in the count early, drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the score at 3-3.
Andrés Muñoz pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth, striking out three and stranding a runner at second, to send the game into extra innings.
The Mariners, though, couldn’t push through in the 10th inning, even with an automatic runner at second. After a Brendan Donovan walk, Randy Arozarena struck out, Connor Joe grounded into a fielder’s choice and Rob Refsnyder flew out to left field.
Eduard Bazardo’s wild throw to second base on a sacrifice bunt attempt — trying to get the lead runner — skipped into center field and helped the Astros load the bases with no outs in the eighth.
The score tied 2-2, the Mariners got exactly what they needed a few moments later, when No. 9-hitting catcher Christian Vazquez hit a ground ball to a drawn-in J.P. Crawford at shortstop. Crawford threw home to force out the lead runner, but when Raleigh tried to pivot and fire to first base he slipped on the plate, unable to get the throw off for what would have likely been a 6-2-3 double play.
Raleigh was seen grimacing and holding his right side — the same side he injured 10 days ago — on the sequence of events immediately after Bazardo’s throw. After Rodríguez bobbled the ball in center field, he hurried his throw home, sending it past the cutoff, Josh Naylor, and forcing Raleigh to making a lunging catch at home plate to keep the ball on the infield.
As the Mariners start an experiment with a six-man rotation, Miller made his pitch and, boy, was it a good one.
Luis Castillo gets his turn in the series finale Thursday afternoon.
Miller showcased a souped-up fastball in his much-anticipated season debut, touching 99.2 mph in the first inning, well above the his average velocity of 94.8 mph during his injury-marred 2025.
Miller averaged 97.6 mph on his fastball through his 81 pitches, and he worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning to keep the Mariners ahead 2-0.
He ran into trouble in the sixth inning when Christian Walker hit a leadoff homer to the opposite field that just cleared the wall in right field.
Shortly after, plate umpire Roberto Ortiz took a foul ball off his mask and had to leave the game. That prompted a 10-minute delay.
When play resumed, Miller’s next two pitches were both hit for singles, and that ended his outing.
Cooper Criswell came in and eventually walked Jose Altuve with the bases loaded, tying the score at 2-2.
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