Jeremy Pena hits Homer in the 18th game as Astros sweep Mariners

Seattle – This day, two decades later in the making, seemed like it would never end. Game 3 of the MLS series between the top-seeded Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners, which hosted their first game since 2001, featured epic throws, perfect defense and, finally, in the 18th inning, the one hit that counted.

non-veteran Jeremy PenaSolo home escape loyal mariners Ben Murphy He provided the only tally in Houston’s 1-0 win that sealed a place in the AL Championship Series for the sixth consecutive season. Never before has a post-season game been as goal-free as Game 3. Its 18 innings tied the post-season record with three more games, and its 6 hours 22 minutes run time is the third-longest on record. The 42 hits scored by both teams set a record. The four common lanes and the absence of fouls imply that this was not just an offensive inefficiency battle but a running clinic.

It was the paradoxical outcome: the close invasion. While Houston took all three games in a best of 5 streak, comeback wins in games 1 and 2 showed the Mariners were no accident. They simply weren’t good enough to beat Houston’s deep squad and dangerous lineup.

“We kept putting zero there and they kept putting zero there and you think we’ll be able to break through because we’ve been through a few times,” Mariners coach Scott Service said. “It’s kind of what we’re used to, playing those tight games and finding a way. … I mean, it’s a big league game, where it was fired up on the field and defense. We weren’t able to put anything together.”

In the first half of the game, the story centered around a pair of great starting performances, written by a Seattle rookie. George Kirby Houston right hand Lance McCullers Jr.. who was battling disease. Kirby has cast seven impressive innings of closing in. McCullers almost matched him with six players. Both were conceded to the Bullpen which is among the best in baseball, and something alike came into play as arm by arm entered and exited the game without letting in a run.

Seven of Seattle’s homesteads laid out point-free picnics. Houston matches this number led Luis Garciaa right-handed starter who finished with five rounds stopped, allowed two hits and didn’t walk, hit six and closed 18 to take victory.

Bina, the 25-year-old rookie who took over at Shortstop upon the departure of the free agent for Carlos Correa, provided the necessary run at the top of the stroke. He went into at-bat 0 for 7. He left it 1 for 8 after Murphy caught a slide, and Peña punched him to midfield.

“You can tell by the glint in his eyes and his vigilance on the court that he wasn’t scared and he wasn’t upset about this,” Astros manager Dusty Becker said. “Boy, he was a godsend to us, especially after we lost Carlos, because it would have been a disaster if it wasn’t for his performance the way he did.”

Houston’s attack, the best in the Premier League this season, only managed to score 11 goals on 63 rackets. Seattle’s offensive, who has lived at home this season, was 7 for 60. The sailors hit 22 times and made three walking runs. The Astros only walked once against 20 punches. The defense was clean, no better than when he was the Mariners’ rising star Julio Rodriguez tracked down by Yuli Gouriel They fired into the right center field gap on the 16th to save a pair of kicks.

Throughout the night, “Ju-li-o” chants permeated T-Mobile Park, which packed 47,690 to watch the Mariners’ first-team squad since the 2001 set that won 116 regular season games but lost in the ALCS. While the Mariners’ core team will likely return to the playoffs in the coming years, the Astros are still the team the AL is working through.

With a thin hamstring band in past seasons, the Astros have focused on honing it this year and after McCullers ran out of a series of armed painkillers each threw a goal-free round: Hector NeresAnd the Rafael MonteiroAnd the Ryan PresleyAnd the Brian Abro And the Ren Stanek. non-veteran Hunter Brown Place a pair of dot-free tires. Then came Garcia’s leadership performance.

Pina said of his home career: “It wouldn’t have been possible if our staff hadn’t kept us in the ball game. They dominated every game. Their team controlled every game.”

The game was similar to one from earlier in this post-season, when Cleveland and Tampa Bay were goalless until the 15th, when the rookie was Oscar Gonzalez He had a hit on his home ground to grab the Guardians’ Wild Cards series. Excellent showing was key to Houston, Philadelphia and San Diego, all of whom advanced. Cleveland could clinch the last place in the championship series and face the Astros with another win over the Yankees.

“We’re expecting more of the same,” Becker said, which is certainly a reasonable expectation. Since MLB expanded into the divisions in 1969, no team has advanced to the ALCS six times in a row. The Astros began his career by winning a championship in 2017, losing the world championship in 2019 and 2021, and will be the favorite to return again, having exited the season with 106 wins, and the only team left this season without defeat.

Even better for the Astros, the sweep allows them to reset their spin instead of using an ace Justin Verlander In a potential match 4 against Seattle. With the ALCS set to start on Wednesday, the No. 2 starter for Verlander and the Astros, Framber Valdezcan throw more comfort.