Saturday's MLB: Astros eliminate Mariners in epic pitchers duel

Seattle – Jeremy Peña and the Houston Astros just kept going. Scoreless inning after scoreless inning, as day turned into night in front of a frenzied crowd in Seattle.

They eventually found a way. That’s how the Astros reached the AL Championship Series for the sixth straight year.

It’s just what they do.

Peña homered in the 18th inning, and the Astros beat the Mariners 1-0 on Saturday for a three-game sweep of their AL Division Series.

“These guys, they know not to panic,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said. “They don’t get too excited. They don’t get too down. It means a lot.”

Peña drove a slider from Penn Murfee deep to left-center for the rookie’s first playoff homer, providing the only run in an afternoon full of dominant pitching and empty trips to the plate.

The 18 innings matched the longest game in playoff history and the 6 hours, 22 minutes was the third-longest in time.

Exhausting for everyone? Absolutely. But exhilarating for the Astros.

“Man, that was a long game. But you still got to lock in, try to put together good at-bats,” Peña said. “I was just trying to stay inside the baseball, drove it in the gap.”

Spoiling Seattle’s first home playoff appearance since 2001, Houston continued its ALCS streak that began with its 2017 World Series title. Next up is the New York Yankees or Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the ALCS on Wednesday.

While Yordan Alvarez got the big hits in the first two games in Houston, it was Peña that set the table for Alvarez’s opportunities. As Game 3 made its way into its sixth hour, Peña delivered another painful blow to the Mariners that ended their short return to the postseason.

“We all know that we belong here now and we all know what it takes to get here and get beyond this point,” Seattle shortstop J.P. Crawford said.

After 21 years, Seattle fans welcomed playoff baseball back inside T-Mobile Park. They got their money’s worth, and then some.

Three previous playoff games reached the 18th inning, one involving Houston. The Astros beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6 in 18 innings in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS on Chris Burke’s game-ending homer.

Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS between San Francisco and Washington and Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between Los Angeles and Boston also went 18 innings.

But those games had runs. This one failed to produce anything until Peña’s swing on a 3-2 pitch.

“I feel like in the playoffs you can’t try and do too much, especially the later the game goes,” Peña said.

Seattle’s best scoring chance was Julio Rodríguez’s line drive that thudded off the wall in the eighth. The Mariners had runners in scoring position in the 13th and 17th, but couldn’t get a key two-out hit against Houston’s superb bullpen.

Unlike baseball’s regular season, there is no automatic runner when playoff games go to extra innings.

“They pitched great. They played a great series. They beat us,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “In my mind, and I think our players’ mind, is a break here or there goes our way in this series, it could have been a lot different. But end of the day, they got the big hits in each of the games and they end up winning them.”

Luis Garcia worked five innings for the win. The Astros bullpen allowed five hits and struck out 15 following six innings from starter Lance McCullers Jr.

“Watching the whole thing the guys are doing a really good job and I’m really proud of them. … I was just trying to help,” Garcia said.

Seattle’s bullpen was nearly just as good. After rookie George Kirby threw seven innings, nine Mariners relievers combined for 11 innings of five-hit ball.

The teams combined to strike out 42 times, topping the postseason record of 39 set by the Guardians and Rays last week in their AL wild-card matchup that was scoreless for 15 innings before Oscar Gonzalez’s home run sent Cleveland to the ALDS.

“Their pitching was phenomenal today as well. We kept putting the zero up there and kept putting the zero up there and you think we’re going to be able to break through because we have so many times,” Servais said. “It’s kind of what we’re accustomed to playing – those tight games and finding a way but there were no errors made in that game today.”

Houston advanced despite a rough performance for Jose Altuve, who went 0 for 8 in Game 3 for the first time in his career and was hitless in 16 at-bats in the series.

Altuve joined Xander Bogaerts in Game 3 of 2018 World Series versus the Dodgers as only players to go 0 for 8 or worse in a postseason game. But Houston’s other pieces came through, none bigger than its young shortstop who took on a prominent role after Carlos Correa departed in free agency.

Peña’s homer was his only hit in eight at-bats. But it was his contributions in the first two games that helped Houston travel to Seattle with a 2-0 lead in the series.

“In a team like this, with the pitching we have, with the defense we have, we never give up,” Altuve said. “We went out and played every single inning like it was the last inning. Putting everything we have, until Jeremy came and hit the big homer.”

More Saturday games

(At) Philadelphia 8, Atlanta 3: Bryce Harper stood as still in the clubhouse as he does when he admires a home run and accepted the beer bath from bottles his Phillies teammates took delight in pouring on him.

Harper’s goggles provided no defense for the waterfall of booze streaming down his cheeks.

“It’s so cold! But it’s so good!” slugger Rhys Hoskins barked in Harper’s face.

Then it was time for the Phillies to sing: “I’m going going, back back, to Cali Cali!” they shouted in unison to the Notorious B.I.G. classic. That’s right, the next stop for the Fightins is a trip West to the NLCS, as a team that looked completely lost in May suddenly looks every bit like a World Series contender in October.

Brandon Marsh hit a three-run homer and J.T. Realmuto lined an inside-the-park home run that sent Philadelphia bolting headfirst into the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2010 with an 8-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 Saturday.

Realmuto became the first catcher to hit an inside-the-parker in postseason history and Harper punctuated the romp with a clinching home run that helped the Phillies take the NL Division Series 3-1 against the World Series champion Braves.

The Phillies will face either San Diego or the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. The Padres held a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers going into Game 4 of the NLDS matchup Saturday night.

Atlanta’s loss meant Major League Baseball hasn’t had a repeat champ since the New York Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000.

“Like I told them, the goal when we leave spring training is to win the division. Until you win the division, you don’t have a chance to do anything special because you never know what’s going to happen, you don’t know what team’s going to get hot, what things have to go right for you to go deep into the postseason,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

“And we got in. It didn’t happen for us this year,” he said.

Philadelphia finished third in the NL East at 87-75, a full 14 games behind the 101-win Braves this season, but is playing like a contender under manager Rob Thomson. Thomson, who had been a career coach for the Yankees and Phillies, transformed a team well out of contention at 23-29 when they fired Joe Girardi on June 3.

“We just got off to a little bit of a slow start and kind of spiraled. And May was a really tough month. It was a really tough schedule,” Thomson said.

“Then once we hit June, the schedule kind of lightened up a little bit and we started winning, and guys started getting confidence and believing that they could win and believing that, OK, now this is the team that we thought we were. And just kept going,” he said.

After a 2-0 sweep of NL Central champion St. Louis in MLB’s newly created wild-card round, the Phillies used a dose of Marsh Madness to keep the party rolling in October.

Heck, call it Mash Madness, as the Phillies turned Citizens Bank Park into a cozy home bandbox for the second straight game — and with another fired-up, towel-waving crowd along for every long ball.

“I feel like I’m with them,” Harper said. “I feel like they’re with us each day. I feel like I’m in hand-in-hand with them. That’s all they want to see. They just want you to play hard. That’s it. They want you to go out there and bust your (rear) each day. No excuses.”

After Hoskins spiked his bat on a three-run shot in a Game 3 win, it was Marsh’s turn in the second inning to hammer his own three-run homer in Game 4.

Braves starter Charlie Morton was hit on his pitching elbow by Alec Bohm’s single traveling 71.9 mph to lead off the inning. After being checked, Morton allowed a single to Jean Segura and hung a 2-2 curveball that the No. 9 hitter Marsh launched deep into the right field seats for a 3-0 lead.

The 24-year-old Marsh is known as much for his stringy hair and ZZ Top-esque beard as he is for being one of the top young players on the Phillies. Marsh, who also doubled in the fourth, was acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in August just ahead of this season’s trade deadline. Phillies President Dave Dombrowski swung another deadline deal with the Angels that got them Game 4 starter Noah Syndergaard, also known for his long locks.

Hey, it will be easy for the Phillies to let their hair down and party.

Reliever Brad Hand was one of six Philadelphia pitchers and got the win.

Syndergaard, bumped from the rotation at the end of the season, wasn’t asked by Thomson to do much other than keep the Phillies in the game. Maybe go unscathed once around the order . Syndergaard delivered with three strikeouts in three innings in a brief throwback to his commanding “Thor” days with the New York Mets.

Orlando Arcia hit a solo shot off him in the third to make it 3-1.

Realmuto then hustled his way into postseason history.

He connected to lead off the third inning against reliever Collin McHugh. The ball hit the angled portion of the wall beyond the reach of center fielder Michael Harris II, and the carom rolled along the warning track toward right-center. Ronald Acuña Jr. stood in right field watching the play, and didn’t start running toward the ball until Realmuto was well past first base. Realmuto, who runs extremely well for a catcher, made a headfirst slide into the plate, well ahead of the relay.

With that, it was bedlam inside the park, as a sellout crowd of 45,660 was deliriously cheering, every sense tingling that there wasn’t going to be a Game 5.

Nope. Just Game 3 of the NLCS back in Philly on Friday.

Harper hit a solo homer in the eighth, the second of the series for the reigning NL MVP.

It seemed fitting the trio of Phillies sluggers that form the heart of the franchise put the game away in the sixth. Hoskins-Realmuto-Harper all had RBI singles that made it 7-2 and a series clinch a mere formality.

“They’re hitting on all cylinders at the right time. It’s a good club,” Snitker said. “They’ve got really good players, and they’re getting it going at the right time.”

The Phillies trotted out 2008 World Series champion Pat Burrell to throw the first pitch after his teammate from ‘08 Shane Victorino did the same before Game 3.

The Phillies’ run of five straight postseason appearances — that included the 2009 NL pennant and a loss in the 2010 NLCS to San Francisco — stretched from 2007 to 2011 until the franchise was saddled with so many dry years without hope.

They no longer have to look at Burrell, Victorino other members of that run as the only reminders of postseason stars — Harper, Hoskins, Realmuto, Marsh have carved their own October marks, with at least one more series ahead.

(At) Cleveland 2, N.Y. Yankees 1: The affable rookie who loves SpongeBob SquarePants has backed the New York Yankees into a postseason corner.

Oscar Gonzalez hit a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning, rallying the Cleveland Guardians to a 6-5 win over New York on Saturday night for a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series.

Gonzalez, a postseason hero just a week ago, lined a 1-2 pitch from Clarke Schmidt through the middle to score rookie Steven Kwan and Amed Rosario as the young Guardians, who have shown no fear during this storybook season, rallied once again and pushed the Yankees to the brink of elimination.

“We’ve seen it in two series so far from this guy,” Guardians starter Triston McKenzie said. “He comes up in the 15th inning and hits a home run, has a game-winning hit in another game, has the hit tonight.

“There’s a maturity level at the plate you don’t see all the time.”

Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer for New York, which carried a 5-3 lead into the ninth before its bullpen flopped and the Guardians staged yet another comeback win.

As Rosario crossed the plate, Gonzalez flung his helmet in the air as his teammates rushed onto the field to mob him. The 24-year-old outfielder hit a walk-off homer in the 15th inning last week to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays in the wild-card round.

Game 4 is Sunday night, when the Yankees turn to ace Gerrit Cole to prevent an early postseason exit.

“Love that Gerrit’s on the mound,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Let’s go get it. Tonight obviously was a gut-wrenching ending, but we’ve got to get over it. Now we’re obviously up against it, but I still love our chances.”

Before Cleveland’s comeback, the Yankees were 167-0 in the postseason when entering the ninth inning with a multiple-run lead.

The win followed a familiar formula for the Guardians, who led the majors with 29 wins in their final at-bat and have now done it twice in a week – both times with Gonzalez delivering the game-winning hit.

Gonzalez walks to the plate to the theme for “SpongeBob SquarePants,” a fitting anthem for baseball’s youngest team.

“I go there singing the song because I have a big body,” Gonzalez said through a translator. “But deep inside I feel like a kid.”

Following the game, Gonzalez rode a scooter down one of the hallways inside Progressive Field.

Gonzalez joined Hall of Famer and fellow Dominican Republic native David Ortiz (2004) as the only players to get three or more hits in the ninth inning or later in a single postseason.

“It’s incredible,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t know about that stat, and I just thank God for that and what makes it more special is it’s from another fellow countryman.”

With one out in the ninth, Myles Straw blooped a single off Wandy Peralta and scampered to second when the ball got by left fielder Oswaldo Cabrera, who missed it with a dive. Kwan then dropped a base hit into left and Boone brought in Schmidt.

Rosario followed with an RBI single to make it 5-4 before José Ramírez fisted an infield single to the open left side that shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa stopped with a slide, preventing the tying run from scoring.

Schmidt struck out Josh Naylor on three pitches before Gonzalez had his second monumental moment of this October.

Before homering a week ago, Gonzalez broke his belt sliding into second base and had to borrow first base coach Sandy Alomar’s belt before play resumed. It’s become a good luck charm for Gonzalez, who is following Alomar, a postseason hero in 1997 when Cleveland eliminated the Yankees in the Division Series.

“Something tells me Sandy will never see it again,” Gonzalez said.

The Yankees are in trouble. They were outhit 15-5 and will be facing a team with all the momentum when they try force the best-of-five series back to Yankee Stadium for Game 5 on Monday.

“We lost a tough one,” Judge said. “We have to come back and do our thing the next two games and take it back to the Bronx. It’s as simple as that. We’ve been dealing with adversity all year long, this is nothing new to us.”

Judge belted a mammoth two-run homer, and Cabrera and Harrison Bader also connected for New York.

Judge’s 449-foot shot in the third inning off McKenzie was his first hit in 10 at-bats in the series. The timing couldn’t have been better as the Yankees needed a spark and got a seismic jolt from baseball’s most feared slugger.

However, the Yankees’ bullpen, which has been plagued by injuries and inconsistency, couldn’t protect the lead. It also hurt that Boone didn’t have Aroldis Chapman, who was left off the playoff roster when he skipped a workout, and Clay Holmes had pitched the previous two games.

Cabrera hit a two-run homer and Bader added a solo shot for the Yankees, his second of the series.

Propelled by a red-dressed sellout crowd – there was the usual throng of loud New York fans on hand as well – the Guardians went ahead early but wasted scoring chances against starter Luis Severino.

In Game 4, Cole will face Cal Quantrill, the same matchup as the opener.

The winner of this series advances to the ALCS to take on the Houston Astros, who swept Seattle.

With Judge in a fall funk, Boone awoke Saturday with the idea of dropping the home run king from the leadoff spot into the No. 2 hole and making several tweaks to his lineup.

Judge struck out for the eighth time in nine at-bats in the series his first time up.

He didn’t miss on his second trip.

With Cabrera at third, Judge drove a 2-1 pitch from McKenzie over the 19-foot-high wall in the deepest part of Progressive Field, with the blast threatening to find an exit from the ballpark onto Eagle Avenue.

It was Judge’s 12th career postseason homer and No. 63 overall this year after he broke Roger Maris’ 61-year-old AL homer record.