SEATTLE -- The Mariners, remarkably, will live to see another day.
Seattle surged to a 6-5 walk-off win over Houston on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park that kept the club alive in the American League West race despite being 10 games under .500 (74-84) with just four to play.
Josh Naylor chipped a bases-loaded single into shallow center field off Josh Hader with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, one pitch after Julio Rodríguez drew a walk with the sacks packed.
“It doesn’t happen without the at-bats before me,” Naylor said.
Indeed, the rally started with automatic runner J.P. Crawford on second base and Randy Arozarena drawing a seven-pitch walk that included an successful ABS challenge from Hadar on ball four. Then, Dominic Canzone -- who finished with a team-high three RBIs -- grounded out but moved both runners into scoring position. Cal Raleigh then walked in a full count to load the bases for Rodríguez.
Naylor’s game-winning hit came against a sinker well above the zone from Hader, the six-time All-Star who returned for just his third multi-inning appearance and finished with a season-high 44 pitches. That workload spoke to Houston’s urgency, attempting to claim sole possession of first place.
The Mariners, meanwhile, avoided elimination in the division for the fourth straight day (though all three teams were idle on Monday). They were knocked from the AL Wild Card race on Sunday.
“We've just got to keep going,” Raleigh said. “We're not in the best spot, but anything can happen. You’ve just got to keep fighting to the end. That's really all you can do.”
For the Mariners to reach October, they will need to sweep their upcoming four-game series at home against the Angels, have the Astros (78-80) lose all four of their upcoming set against the A’s in West Sacramento and the Rangers (78-80) lose on Thursday against the Mets then all three in their weekend series against the Twins.
If that came to fruition, all three clubs would finish 78-82 -- and Seattle would claim the division crown by virtue of its best combined head-to-head record among these three clubs. Within that criteria, the Mariners would be 14-11, the Rangers would be 12-14 and the Astros would be 12-13.
It’d be remarkable for so many reasons, but perhaps the prevailing takeaway would be the unflattering history the club would make.
For all of this to play out, the Mariners would be the first club in the Divisional Era (since 1969) to win a division with a losing record (which may wind up happening even if either the Rangers or Astros end up claiming the AL West).
Moreover, Seattle entered Wednesday with 0.0% odds to reach the postseason, per FanGraphs -- underscoring just how much of a longshot all of this seemed when the Mariners awoke Wednesday, and how much it still remains.
The Mariners would be eliminated with one more loss or one more win from either the Rangers or Astros. And Seattle has faced the mathematical possibility of being eliminated in the AL West since Saturday night’s gut-punch loss in Colorado.
“This team never gives up,” Naylor said. “It's amazing to be a part of. We have such an awesome group. The bullpen was great. The offense was great. We stayed in it the whole entire fight, and yeah, we got the win, which is huge.”
The 10th-inning grind came together after the Mariners climbed back from a 4-0 deficit -- all manufactured in the second against George Kirby -- then gave away the lead in the top of the frame. Cooper Criswell surrendered a one-out triple to Yainer Diaz that sliced past a diving Taylor Ward and to the wall in right field, scoring automatic runner Yordan Alvarez.
That came moments after Ward was picked off in the ninth attempting to take second base in a full count to rookie Michael Arroyo, who eventually walked. Ward was the second out, then Crawford grounded out for the third out to send the game to extras.
Criswell, however, was able to strand Diaz on third base, capping five innings from the Mariners’ bullpen of just the one unearned run. Andrés Muñoz, who exited his most recent outing on Sunday in Denver with right knee discomfort, was unavailable.
“To hold that runner at third was a turning point for us,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “It gave us a little bit more hope.”
Hope is all that the Mariners have at this point, as they’d need multiple miracles on a daily basis through the weekend. But it’s something they can cling to for now.