Connect with us

Baseball

Ryan Pressly secures double play, Astros defeat Mariners 2-1

Ryan Pressly secures double play, Astros defeat Mariners 2-1

The Houston Astros’ 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday was secured after Ryan Pressly forced Luis Torrens into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.

After outscoring the Astros 12-1 throughout Friday and Saturday, Seattle was forced to forgo its first home sweep attempt toward Houston.

“We lost one game in the standings and scored three runs the whole series, so it’s very fortunate for us that we get out here with a win,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said.

Match highlights

Houston took the lead in the second inning when Jeremy Peña blasted a home run. In the sixth inning, Ty France hit a tying single.

Luis Garcia struck out his first 13 batters before walking Suárez. He did not allow a hit until Torrens singled to start the sixth inning. Torrens was able to advance thanks to Taylor Trammell’s sacrifice. He eventually scored on a single by France, who recorded a career-high 10 RBIs during his 11-game hitting streak.

Garcia allowed one run and four hits in six innings with six strikeouts and one walk. In 7 1/3 innings, Marco Gonzales gave up two runs and five hits.

“He was at the top of his game today,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It doesn’t get much better than what he did to take us this deep into the ballgame. It’s one of those games where it’s going to come down to creating chaos and traffic out there and then getting the big hit. … We just didn’t get the big hit.”

In the seventh inning, Rafael Montero (2-0) came on to relieve Gonzales with two on and no outs. Montero struck out Mike Ford and Torrens after Frazier sacrificed.

Yordan Álvarez hit a two-out, bases-loaded single off Paul Sewald, who had relieved Gonzales in the eighth inning to break the tie (3-5).

In the ninth inning, Pressly walked J.P. Crawford, struck out Eugenio Suárez with a called third strike, and then walked Mike Ford, loading the bases. Third baseman Alex Bregman grounded out to Torrens for a 5-4-3 double play, allowing Pressly to record his eighth save for his 10 chances.

“I was thinking about closers, actually the best I’ve ever had: I was thinking about Rob Beck,” Baker said. “And that was kind of like vintage Rod Beck. And I was like,’ Come on, Big Rod!’ He would always get out of it.”

Kyle Lewis recovering from injury, Kyle Tucker sits out

Mariners’ right fielder Kyle Lewis was omitted from the starting lineup due to an injury. Lewis is currently recovering from knee surgery.

“We’ve got to play the long game here,” Servais said. “We really want to have him available for the remainder of the season.”

After having an MRI performed on his injured left foot, Astros left fielder Kyle Tucker opted to sit out on Sunday. According to manager Dusty Baker he suffered some inflammation in the foot. Going ahead, Tucker will be evaluated daily.

Tucker was taken out of Saturday’s 6-0 loss to the Mariners in the sixth inning. Baker decided to dismiss him since, in his experience, foot issues often lead to other problems.

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League West division, (wikipedia)

Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League West division. (wikipedia)

Harry James' love for sports began in his high school basketball days. Sadly, an injury meant he couldn't further his NBA dreams, but the hooper's loss is our gain as he then found journalism.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in Baseball