Jeremy Peña hit a solo home run in the top of the 18th inning and that was enough for the Houston Astros to beat a plucky Seattle Mariners and advance to the American League Championship Series for the sixth consecutive year.
Pena connected on Penn Murfee’s slider to left-center for his first postseason home run with the Astros to end a lengthy pitching duel that featured the longest game in playoff history.
The Astros swept the Mariners, who played a playoff series for the first time since 2001. Houston now awaits the winner of the Yankees-Guardians series hosting them starting Wednesday.
While Yordan Alvarez got the big hits in the first two games in Houston, it was Pena who set the table for Alvarez’s chances. Pena delivered another painful blow to the Mariners that ended their brief return to the postseason.
After 21 years, Seattle fans welcomed playoff baseball inside T-Mobile Park.
Three previous playoff games reached the 18th inning before concluding, one involving Houston. The Astros defeated the Atlanta Braves 7-6 in 18 innings in Game 4 of the 2005 SDLN with Chris Burke’s game-ending home run.
Game 2 of the 2014 SDLN between San Francisco and Washington and Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between Los Angeles and Boston were also 18 innings.
This game involved a new mark because it was until this inning when Pena managed to open the scoring on a 3-2 count.
Seattle’s best scoring opportunity was a line drive hit by Julio Rodriguez that hit the wall in the eighth inning. Seattle had runners in scoring position in the 13th and 17th innings, but could not get a key hit with two outs against Houston’s superb bullpen.
Impressive defensive duel
Luis Garcia worked five innings to pick up the win. The Astros bullpen allowed five hits and struck out 15 after six innings of relief work by starter Lance McCullers Jr.
Seattle’s bullpen was nearly as good. After rookie George Kirby pitched seven innings, nine Mariners relievers combined for 11 innings of five-hit ball.
The teams combined to strike out 42 times, surpassing the postseason record of 39 set by the Rangers and Rays last week in their American League wild-card showdown that was blanked for 15 innings before Oscar Gonzalez’s home run sent Cleveland to the SDLA.
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