Hector Neris escaped a bases-loaded jam before Martin Maldonado clubbed a tie-breaking home run in the eighth inning as the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Saturday
Maldonado snapped a 2-2 deadlock with his sixth home run, a 371-foot shot to left-center field off Mariners reliever Andres Munoz (2-2). Maldonado ended an 0-for-21 slump and capitalized on the Whodini act performed by Neris a half-inning earlier
Neris (5-2) loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the eighth with a pair of walks and a hit baseman but rallied to retire pinch-hitters Cal Raleigh and Mike Ford before getting a called third strike on Jose Caballero. Astros closer Ryan Pressly earned his 20th save in the ninth
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez labored a bit in his first start after missing one turn in the rotation with right ankle soreness. He retired the side in order twice in six innings of work, and after being spotted an early two-run lead, surrendered that advantage by the fourth inning
Caballero opened the third with a single before stealing second and third. He scored when J.P. Crawford produced an infield single that sliced the deficit to 2-1. Caballero plated Teoscar Hernandez, who hit a leadoff double, with the tying run in the fourth with his single to center.
Valdez allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts but needed 105 pitches to complete six innings.
Mariners rookie right-hander Bryan Woo surrendered three consecutive one-out hits in the first. Kyle Tucker followed a Jeremy Pena single with a run-scoring double to right, giving Houston a 1-0 lead. Tucker later scored when Alex Bregman lined a single to left that ricocheted off the glove of third baseman Eugenio Suarez
Woo limited the damage by retiring Jose Abreu and Yainer Diaz, starting a dominant stretch where he retired 16 consecutive batters. Woo recorded eight groundball outs, four flyouts and four strikeouts during a run that ended when Tucker walked with two outs in the sixth.
Woo allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and one walk with four strikeouts,
–Field Level Media
