SEATTLE (AP) — J.P. Crawford drove in Jonatan Clase with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Seattle Mariners a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday night.
Agame dominated by pitching ended with Crawford lifting a fly ball to deep right field that allowed Clase to jog home and give the Mariners wins in the first three games of the four-game series with their AL West rival
The winning run came after dominant starting pitching by Houston’s Justin Verlander and Seattle’s George Kirby. Verlander allowed one run, three hits and struck out nine over seven innings; Kirby allowed one run, six hits and struck out eight in six innings.
“That’s as good as it gets in this league, any league, Verlander and George going back and forth,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “It was fun to watch when George was out there. It wasn’t so fun to watch when Verlander was out there. It was one of those games going into it you have to figure out a way to grind through it.”
The bullpens were equally strong. Trent Thornton, Gabe Speier, Austin Voth and Andrés Muñoz allowed one baserunner with six strikeouts over three innings. Mike Baumann (2-0) retired the Astros in order in the top of the 10th on a pair of fly outs and Jose Altuve’s groundout.
But Houston’s Tayler Scott (1-2) couldn’t find the same success. Dominic Canzone grounded out to second base to open the 10th, allowing Clase — the automatic runner — to advance to third. Cal Raleigh and Luke Raley walked to load the bases and Crawford drove a 0-1 pitch deep enough for Clase to score.