Arozarena's 5 RBI lead Mariners to 7-6 win vs HOU

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - APRIL 09: Randy Arozarena #56 of the Seattle Mariners celebrates his walk-off walk against Bryan Abreu #52 of the Houston Astros during the ninth inning against the Houston Astros at T-Mobile Park on April 09, 2025 in Seattle, W (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

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SEATTLE - Randy Arozarena delivered a two-out grand slam for the Seattle Mariners in the eighth inning and drove in the winning run with a bases loaded walk in a stunning 7-6 comeback win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday afternoon.

"To win the series that way, after a loss – a really tough loss – last night, that shows so much and just a great job today by our guys," manager Dan Wilson said.

Seattle trailed 5-0 after the top of the eighth inning and had shown next to nothing offensively for the majority of the afternoon. They had managed just two hits against Houston starter Hunter Brown through six innings and failed to deliver with two runners on with one out in the seventh as well.

But Seattle loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth inning against Luis Contreras to begin their rally. Miles Mastrobuoni singled and walks to J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez gave Seattle its first major offensive pressure of the game. Arozarena then blasted a two-out grand slam off Steven Okert into the Houston bullpen to suddenly cut the lead to 5-4.

"I think I'm going to credit a lot of it to some of the cage work before the game," Arozarena said through translator Freddy Llanos. "I felt really good there so I think that was some of the results that we saw today. When that home run came I was looking for fastball. They were throwing a lot of fastballs and I felt I was missing a couple, so just kind of prepared and made sure to make contact."

Arozarena turned on a 91 mph fastball from Okert on the inside corner that sailed over the left field wall to the back of the bullpen.

"He's so electric and you know, he definitely came up huge for us at that spot," Rodríguez said. "And that is what he does. Whenever he's at the plate, he can cause like so many things for the other team and he definitely came huge for us in that spot."

Jeremy Peña answered back for the Astros with a lead-off double against Casey Lawrence in the ninth inning. Seattle then caught Peña in between bases, but couldn't cleanly get the throw to Mastrobuoni at third base as Peña slid in safely. A wild pitch on Lawrence's next offering skipped to the backstop and allowed Peña to score for a 6-4 lead.

The Mariners were able to respond one more time in the ninth.

Donovan Solano singled to lead off the inning and Mastrobuoni followed with a one-out single and stole second base. Perhaps the most critical play in the sequence came next. Crawford chopped a grounder up the third baseline with Isaac Paredes attempting to tag a retreating Solano at the base. After being initially ruled out, Solano was called safe after a review as the bases were loaded for Rodríguez.

Rodríguez laced a two-run double into the right field corner that scored Solano and Mastrobuoni to tie the game at 6-6. Rodríguez slapped a 98 mph fastball on the outside edge of the plate from Bryan Abreu the opposite way to drive in the two runs. Rodríguez had been on a 1-for-22 slide before the double.

"That's what I'm trying to do. Just put a solid swing and try to drive the ball, a little line drive back to the pitcher, and I was able to square it up," Rodríguez said.

Mitch Garver walked to load the bases again before Arozarena's two-out walk against Abreu served as the winning moment for Seattle's first series win of the season.

On the heels of their 12-inning loss on Tuesday night, the Mariners' bullpen was already stretched and in need of as much length as they could get from spot starter Luis F. Castillo.

After a clean first inning, Castillo was under siege for the rest of his outing. Walks to Peña and Victor Caratini came back to bite Castillo in the second inning. Jake Meyers, Cam Smith and Jose Altuve each delivered singles to score three runs and jump out front.

In the third, Castillo walked Christian Walker and allowed a base hit to Peña to put two more on base. On a Caratini chopper back to the mound, Castillo fired a throw low to second base that Crawford couldn't handle to load the bases and a walk to Brendan Rodgers made it a 4-0 Astros lead.

Houston added an insurance run they would very much need in the eighth inning. Facing Lawrence – who was added to the roster before the game for added bullpen depth – Smith, Altuve and Isaac Paredes all singled to load the bases. Yordan Álvarez's sacrifice fly to left field was enough to score Smith and push the lead to 5-0.

Meanwhile, the Mariners' offense remained absent for most of the day.

A two-out double from Crawford in the third inning and Arozarena in the fifth inning were the only baserunners Seattle managed in six innings against Brown. A few solid defensive plays helped to keep the sheet nearly perfect for Brown, who struck out only three.

Bennett Sousa walked Arozarena and Luke Raley in the seventh inning, but Contreras came into the game and shut down the threat with a strikeout of Solano and fly-out for Dominic Canzone.

"If you watch the game, the whole first part, they just kept making plays and plays, and we felt like we're going to find the holes, you know, in the defense," Rodríguez said. "Thankfully, like, later in the game, you know, they started to fall like, you know, a few walks here and there, and Randy kept coming up big.

"I think it's going to happen. I think it's going to happen where we're going to get those big hits and we're going to keep driving runners in."

Seattle loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth inning against Contreras. Mastrobuoni singled and walks to Crawford and Julio Rodríguez gave Seattle its first major offensive pressure of the game. Arozarena then delivered a two-out grand slam off Okert into the Houston bullpen to suddenly cut the lead to 5-4.

Peña answered with a lead-off double against Lawrence in the ninth inning. Seattle then caught Peña in between bases, but couldn't cleanly get the throw to Mastrobuoni at third base as Peña slid in safe. A wild pitch on Lawrence's next offering skipped to the backstop and allowed Peña to score for a 6-4 lead.

Arozarena's late-inning heroics then carried the effort to salvage the victory.

Lawrence tossed three innings in relief for Seattle and picked up the win, allowing two runs on four hits with a walk.

"Casey threw the ball extremely well," Wilson said. "He is really invaluable to have that kind of a guy who knows how to pitch. He's a veteran. He's been around and was really able to pitch very well and keep this game right where it needed to stay. You can't say enough about his performance today."

The Source: Original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle.