By Jeffrey Nooney, edited by Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA - In somewhat surprising fashion, our Seattle Mariners won their first series against the Houston Astros of this 2025 MLB season, taking the three-game set two games to one. This is the Mariners first series win of the season, as Seattle managed to come back late in both of the wins, and lost a tough one in 12 innings in the middle contest of the set. The Mariners came into the series with a 3-7 record after being swept down in San Francisco by the Giants, but they had opportunities to win two of those games as well. The Astros came into Seattle with a 4-5 record and were swept by those same Giants earlier this season, and have looked somewhat less ironclad than they have in years past. Going back to last year, the Mariners hold a 10-6 head-to-head record against the Astros. The biggest problem for the Mariners so far this season is their batting average with runners in scoring position, currently batting 13-101 (.129 average) in those situations for the year. During this series with Houston, the Mariners went 4-33 (.121) but still managed to win two of the three games despite their failures with men on base. Seattle has not had a problem getting on base this season, as they are 24th in team batting average (.200) and second in walks (56). Once they figure out how to get the batting average up with runners in scoring position to drive those valuable runners in, the wins will start to pile up as hopefully the pitching ramps up a bit as well. The Mariners batting average on balls in play is just .240 this season, and the MLB average is right around .300. That shows that the Mariners have been a bit unlucky when they put the ball in play, and hopefully their luck will also turn in their favor going forward so that the offense can turn things up a notch.

Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford made a critical defensive play in the top of the ninth inning, helping Andrés Muñoz lock down the save in the series opener against the Houston Astros on Monday, April 7th, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo for Circling Seattle Sports)

Game one: Mariners win, 4-3

Seattle ace right hander Logan Gilbert (0-1, 2.55 ERA) started this ballgame for the Mariners, and took a no hitter into the sixth inning when Astros star Jose Altuve crushed his third home run of the season to get Houston on the board. Logan was taken out of the ballgame with one out in the sixth, allowing just the one run, one hit, two walks and striking out seven. The Astros made him work in this one, as he threw 99 pitches in his five and two thirds innings of work, with only 59 of those going for strikes. Seattle infielder Ryan Bliss got the offense going in the bottom of the fifth inning with a big two-run homer to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead. The Astros then took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning on a fielding error by third baseman Dylan Moore with the bases loaded, his first error of the season. In the bottom of that frame, infielder/designated hitter Jorge Polanco drove in two runs with a line drive deflected off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu to give the Mariners a 4-3 lead. Seattle reliever Andrés Muñoz earned his fourth save of the season, and has earned a save in every Mariners win this season up to this date as they took the series opener against Houston in tight fashion.

The lone run of the game for the Seattle Mariners came as Mitch Garver stole second base, and Luke Raley drove him in with a single in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Houston Astros won the middle contest of the series on April 8th, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Dylan Nguyen for Circling Seattle Sports)

Game two: Astros win, 2-1 (12 innings)

This was easily the most frustrating game of the season so far for the Mariners. Seattle had a ton of opportunities to win this game, but just could not get a hit when it mattered, which has been an unfortunate theme for them the last few years. The Mariners went 1-19 with runners in scoring position in this grueling extra inning game, which includes the free runner on second base in each of those extra innings played. Seattle’s pitching staff gave up two runs, but both of them were unearned runs. Luis M. Castillo (1-1, 2.12 ERA) tossed five scoreless innings, giving up five hits, walking two and striking out six. Much like Monday’s game and the series opener, the Astros made Castillo work hard in this one. “La Piedra” only threw a first pitch strike to 8 of the 21 batters he faced, and his pitch count of 102 through his five innings was really high. The Mariners bullpen was solid in this one, tossing seven innings with only giving up two unearned runs on three hits, three walks (all intentional) and striking out six. Seattle’s pitching struck out a season high 19 times in this ballgame. Unfortunately for the Mariners, they didn’t just lose this game, but they also lost their starting second baseman Ryan Bliss in this one. Bliss tore his left bicep muscle in the second inning on a swing that hit Astros catcher Yainer Diaz. Bliss will have surgery on the injury and is expected to miss 4-5 months. Bliss stayed in the game and hit a double off the wall following the swing where he got injured, while also making a game-saving play at second base late into this contest. Bliss will be missed this season, considering that the Seattle infield was already short on depth and Bliss had been looking more and more comfortable at second as the games have gone on.

Seattle Mariners left fielder Randy Arozarena drew a walk with a full count and the bases loaded to win the game and take the series over the Houston Astros on Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Aaron Benson for Circling Seattle Sports)

Game three: Mariners win, 7-6

This game, the series finale between these two American League West foes, felt like it was going to be a loss before the first pitch was even thrown. In the previous two days, the Mariners found out that they’d lost their starting right fielder Victor Robles and second baseman Ryan Bliss for a significant amount of time due to differing injuries. Luis F. Castillo, aka “The Pebble,” started this game for the Mariners and struggled despite Dan Wilson saying pregame that he liked the way he stacked up against the Houston lineup. Castillo gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits in his four innings of work, while walking five batters and striking out three. The Astros took a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning, when Randy Arozarena hit a towering grand slam to left field that would bring the Mariners back within a run. Houston then tacked on another run in the top of the ninth courtesy of a Yordan Alvarez sacrifice fly that scored Cam Smith, taking a 6-4 lead. Seattle was able to fight back, loading the bases for Julio Rodríguez before he doubled down the right field line to tie the game at six runs each. Left fielder Randy Arozarena continued his impressive game as he came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded. On a 3-2 pitch, Arozarena drew a walk on a pitch high and away, bringing in the winning run. A fun and chaotic way to win a ballgame, and a bizarre way for the Mariners to win their first series of the 2025 MLB season.

Quick Mariners baseball notes from this series against the Astros, from Mariners PR.

The Mariners earned their first walk-off win of the season, a 7-6 win over the Astros to take their 1st series win of the season.

On the final at-bat of the game, Randy Arozarena drew the walk-off walk in the bottom of the 9th inning…it marked his 5th career walk-off plate appearance (last: 9/14/24 vs. TEX) and his 1st career walk-off walk.
Scoring 7 runs in the last two innings, it marked the first time that the Mariners overcame a 5-run deficit since Aug. 3, 2024 vs. Phillies which also ended in a walk-off walk (drawn by Mitch Haniger).
Seattle is now 3-1 in series finales this season and 3-0 in home series finales…they defeated the A’s on March 30 (2-1) and the Tigers on April 2 (3-2).
Seattle is now 4-3 in games decided by 1 run, despite dropping last night’s contest by a 2-1 score in 12 innings.

Randy Arozarena’s grand slam in the eighth inning was his third homer of the season and his 2nd career grand slam (last: 6/13/21 vs. BAL w/TB).

It also marked the first Mariners grand slam since Justin Turner on August 2nd, 2024 versus Philadelphia Phillies.
Along with his double in the 4th inning, 7 of Arozarena’s 9 hits this season have gone for extra bases (4 doubles and 3 HR’s)…marks a career-high through the first 13 games of the season (previously: 6 extra-base hits in the 2023 season w/ TBR).

Julio Rodríguez hit the game-tying 2-RBI double in the bottom of the 9th inning for his 7th career game-tying or go-ahead hit in the 9th inning or later (last: 6/13/24 vs. CWS).

It also marked the 2nd game-tying hit in the 9th inning or later by a Mariners hitter this season (last: Arozarena, 4/6 at SF).

Reliever Casey Lawrence earned the win, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in 3.0 innings in his first major league appearance since Sept. 30, 2023 with the Cincinnati Reds, which was 557 days ago.

Lawrence, who was selected from Triple-A Tacoma the morning of the series finale, became the 55th player in franchise history to have two separate stints with the club...his last appearance with the Mariners was Sept. 26, 2018, which was 2,387 days ago.

The Mariners pitching staff held the Astros to 4-for-13 with RISP, leaving 12 runners on base
Seattle’s 20 stolen bases through the first 13 games of the season are tied with the 1987 season for the most stolen bases in the first 13 games of the season in franchise history.

With Mastrobuoni swiping his 1st bag of the season, 11 different Mariners players have stolen a base so far this season, currently the most in the major leagues

What’s next?

Following this series win over the Houston Astros, our Seattle Mariners will finish this six-game homestead against the Texas Rangers as it begins on Friday, April 11th. Game one’s pitching matchup features Jacob deGrom (0-0, 3.38 ERA) for the Rangers versus Bryce Miller (0-2, 5.73 ERA) for the Mariners. Game two’s matchup on Saturday’s slates Kumar Rocker (0-1, 7.88 ERA) for Texas against Bryan Woo (1-0, 3.75 ERA) for Seattle. Sunday’s matchup for the series finale pits Rangers right hander Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 2.29 ERA) against Mariners ace Logan Gilbert (0-1, 2.55 ERA). Texas is currently leading the American League West with a 9-4 record. Even with that division leading record, the Rangers have a -8 run differential and their expected record is just 6-7. The only team in the American League West with a positive run differential is the Los Angeles Angels, who have a +9 entering play Friday.

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Check out our previous articles with writing by Jeffrey Nooney here. Check out his previous work with Sodo Mojo by clicking here.
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