Mariners keep faint playoff hopes alive with walkoff win

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Sep 24, 2026

Published in Baseball

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One strike away from officially being eliminated from the American League West race, the Mariners wouldn’t give into their expected fate.

Trailing by a run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Julio Rodríguez worked a bases-loaded walk against Astros closer Josh Hader, who was in his second inning of work, and Josh Naylor gave the Mariners a 6-5 walkoff victory with a soft single Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park.

How can they still be alive in the American League West?

Well, it’s complicated.

Could they win the American League West?

Well, the Mariners would need to win their final four games against the Angels and they would need the Astros and Rangers to each lose their four remaining games.

That would force a three-way tie in the American League West, and the Mariners would win the tiebreaker in that far-fetched scenario.

George Kirby gave the Mariners yet another uneven start Wednesday.

He looked dominant in the first two innings with both versions of his fastball touching 99 mph.

His outing got sidetracked in the third inning. He allowed a one-out double to Logan Allen and Jose Altuve followed with a hard single to left just inside the foul line that struck umpire Ryan Blakney in the thigh and bounced into the outfield, giving the Astros a 1-0 lead.

Yordan Álvarez followed with a double to right on a 2-2 fastball up, and Isaac Paredes made it 2-0 with a sac fly to right.

Yainer Diaz made it 4-0, turning on a low splitter and sending a fly ball just over the wall in left field for a two-run homer.

The Mariners answered the Astros outburst immediately in the bottom half of the inning.

Laz Montes worked a leadoff walk off Astros starter Ethan Pecko. With one out J.P. Crawford singled and Randy Arozarena worked a walk to load the bases for Dom Canzone, who came into the game with an 11-game hitting streak.

Canzone made it a dozen straight with a hit, lacing a 112-mph line drive off the wall in left field to score a pair of runs. Rodríguez followed with a double to left to drive in another run and cut the lead to 4-3.

Kirby was able to produce two scoreless if not clean innings in the fourth and fifth.

His final line: five innings pitched, four runs allowed on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

The duo of Arozarena and Canzone combined to tie the game in the fifth. Arozarena singled, stole second and scored on Canzone’s soft single to center.