Mariners top Astros, 11-1, in home opener in front of sold-out crowd
The energy inside the ballpark was electric long before Marco Gonzales tossed the first pitch of the spring in Seattle.
When the Mariners were announced, one by one, and ran out from the tunnel in right center and across the rolled out carpet to line up along the first base line, the crowd cheered.
When they got the chance to welcome rookie outfielder Julio Rodriguez — the No. 3 prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline — home for his T-Mobile Park debut, they roared.
When beloved former outfielder Ichiro Suzuki made his way to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch with Rodriguez behind the plate, they were on their feet.
That was only the beginning.
As the evening continued on this clear, brisk evening in April, the Mariners, back home for the first time since nearly ending their long postseason drought last October, gave this sold-out crowd reason after reason to continue cheering throughout their decisive 11-1 victory over the visiting Astros in Friday night’s home opener.
“That was a fun night,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said postgame. “I hope everybody in the ballpark enjoyed it as much as we did.”
The energy remained lively from the moment Gonzales struck out Jose Altuve for the game’s first out, to the moment Matt Koch struck out Kyle Tucker to end it.
There were so many moments in between, too, that sent cheers from the 45,023 in attendance echoing across the ballpark.
“We’re really excited to play here,” Gonzales said. “We can have one of the best environments in the league, I think, and you saw a little bit of that tonight.”
Gonzales, after a rough first outing of the season in Minnesota last week, set the tone early, sending Altuve back to the dugout on a called strike three on a perfectly placed changeup on the lower inside corner.
His one pitch to Michael Brantley in the inning resulted in a pop up to short J.P. Crawford handled with ease.
He then ended an eight-pitch battle with Alex Bregman with another strikeout to complete the 1-2-3 first inning.
“Marco started it,” Servais said. “In total command. Just getting after it. Throwing strike after strike early in the count. Good changeup. And does what Marco does. Once he gets on a roll, he’s really fun to watch pitch.”
The Mariners wasted no time in the minutes that followed producing what turned out to be the run that gave them a lead they never lost.
Adam Frazier sent the first pitch from Houston starter Jake Odorizzi to right field for Seattle’s first hit this season at T-Mobile Park. Two batters later, he scored the first run in the ballpark this spring on a single to left from Jesse Winker.
Both Frazier and Winker, making their home debuts with the club — Frazier joined Seattle as part of a trade with the Padres in November, and Winker as part of a trade with the Reds along with Eugenio Suarez last month — noted the energy of the crowd postgame.
“They brought the electricity tonight, and it was a lot of fun to play in front of,” said Frazier, who was 4-for-5 with two runs scored, a double, triple and four RBI.
Gonzales faced the minimum again in the second, striking out both Tucker and Jose Siri. He didn’t allow a base runner until Chase McCormick reached on a slow-rolling grounder to third for Houston’s first hit in the third. Gonzales recovered quickly, though, ending the inning when Altuve grounded into a double play.
He later struck out Tucker to end the fourth, added an efficient seven-pitching inning in the fifth and at one point retired eight consecutive batters before the Astros finally scratched a run across.
Siri’s two-out single to center in Gonzales’ final frame in the seventh gave Houston its only run of the contest — and the Mariners held a six-run lead by that point.
“It’s huge,” Gonzales said of the early run support. “You can pitch downhill in a sense. It puts them on their heels and it showed.”
Gonzales completed seven innings, allowing the one run on four hits while striking out six.
Meanwhile, the Mariners’ offense, which had at times had trouble producing runs during the season-opening road trip to Minnesota and Chicago — the club returned home 3-4 — spent the evening scorching Houston’s pitching.
Every Mariners batter reached base at least once, and eight finished the game with at least one hit.
Rodriguez led off the second with a single in his first career at-bat inside T-Mobile Park to ignite the crowd again, and Seattle scored in five consecutive innings in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.
“Offensively — we were due,” Servais said. “We’ve just got a lot of good hitters on this team.”
Frazier added to the lead in the fourth with his two-run triple to the gap in right center, and drove in two more runs in the seventh on a double to right center.
Suarez, also playing his first home game with the Mariners, sent a run across on a grounder in the fifth. He then capped the club’s season-best 11-run night when he crushed a fastball to right center for a two-run home run in the eighth.
Ty France doubled to score two in the sixth, and Jarred Kelenic pushed across another run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly.
Yohan Ramirez and Matt Koch each threw scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to close out the win.
And the fans remained on their feet for each electric moment, as the Mariners extended their streak to six consecutive wins in home openers.
“I know it’s just our first game here, but fans can really carry you through a season,” Winker said. “Especially as it gets going and games start stacking and months start happening, the fans, their energy that they bring, it can really carry you and it can really help you build momentum.
“What happened tonight — that was a special atmosphere.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2022 at 9:54 PM.
