HOUSTON -- The ball jumped off Christian Walker’s bat like a rocket, sparking the kind of wild on-field celebration the Astros hope they get to experience a lot more of in the season’s final six weeks and beyond. Players poured out of the dugout, fireworks exploded overhead and everyone at Daikin Park tried to take stock of what they had just witnessed.
That included the Mariners, who scored five unanswered runs, including two in the top of the 10th inning to take the lead, but were left on the wrong end of a crusher. And that included the Astros, who were down to their last strike twice against Seattle closer Andrés Muñoz and somehow found a way.
Walker blasted a three-run, walk-off homer in the 10th inning Friday night to send the Astros to a dramatic 10-7 win over the Mariners, pushing first-place Houston to a season-high three-game lead in the American League West over the Rangers, dropping Seattle six games back.
“It’s fun to do it and great to come through, but looking at the dugout and seeing everybody go crazy… that is one of the best closers in the game,” Walker said. “So to be able to tie it and then force more baseball, and then obviously take the lead, is great. That’s something to be proud of and I think that will give us some momentum.”
The Astros blew a 5-2 lead, watching the Mariners score twice in the eighth to tie the game and twice more in the 10th off Bryan Abreu to take a 7-5 lead. Things looked bleak in the 10th when slugger Yordan Alvarez -- who broke his 13-game homerless drought with his 36th of the season in the first inning -- made the first out, but the Astros put together a string of great at-bats off Muñoz.
“Those at-bats in the 10th against Muñoz [were] unbelievable at-bats,” Astros manager Joe Espada said.
Indeed.
Isaac Paredes’ RBI single made it 7-6, but he was still at first base when Muñoz struck out Taylor Trammell for the second out. Jose Altuve kept the inning going by reaching and dumping an 0-2 slider that was low and out of the zone into right field to put runners at the corners.
Then there was struggling newcomer Daulton Varsho -- off to a 4-for-35 start since coming to the Astros in a trade last week with Toronto -- swinging through two Muñoz sliders before hitting another slider past a diving shortstop to tie the game.
“I swung at two back-foot sliders and got a little amped up, but I slowed myself down and got the job done,” Varsho said.
Walker obliterated the second pitch he saw from Muñoz, also a slider, and sent it a Statcast-projected 405 feet to left field with a 108.2 mph exit velocity. His third career walk-off homer capped a five-run inning off Muñoz, who had 0.93 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in his last 19 appearances.
“It was electric,” starting pitcher Peter Lambert said.
Walker was happier for Varsho than he was for himself. The two were teammates in Arizona, and Varsho has been staying at Walker’s Houston home until he can get himself settled in his new surroundings. Perhaps a huge hit like that will help.
“I know that guy well,” Walker said. “He’s a competitor. I think that was another slider, too. After chasing a couple, he made a really good adjustment and brought it up. It was a pitch -- slider at the bottom -- but also not try to do too much. Props for him for taking a hit and extending the inning. I think that’s what you have to do off guys like [Muñoz].”
Varsho was the only addition the Astros made at the Trade Deadline with hopes he would have at-bats and contributions like this.
“I’m sure he wanted to be in that spot,” Espada said. “I’m sure he wanted to come through for his teammates and he did. He’s a good hitter. It’s taking some time, but it’s going to happen. He’s been a good hitter for a very long time, and hopefully that’s the one that opens up the doors we get more.”
The wild comeback was undoubtedly going to be the topic of conversation later Friday when Walker and Varsho got back to the house. The thought of it made Walker smile.
“Hopefully he just tells me how awesome it was a bunch of times and we’ll sleep well,” he said.