While the National League has the day off, the American League playoffs resumed Thursday.
The Houston Astros rallied from an early deficit to take down the Seattle Mariners 4-2, giving the defending AL champs a 2-0 lead in their division series.
Game 2 between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees was postponed due to inclement weather and will be played Friday at 1:07 pm ET.
Here were the top plays from Thursday’s action.
Houston Astros 4, Seattle Mariners 2 (HOU leads 2-0)
Hot start
Kyle Tucker blasted a home run to right field off Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo in the bottom of the second inning, giving the Astros a 1-0 lead.
Inning-ending gem
After JP Crawford doubled off the left field wall, second baseman Jose Altuve made a jump-throw from the left side of the infield over to first base for the final out of the inning, keeping Seattle off the board.
Mariners’ dramatic score
Seattle had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the fourth when Carlos Santana hit a grounder, prompting a wild throw home from starting pitcher Framber Valdez to put the Mariners on the board.
However, Santana was caught in-between first and second and got tagged in a rundown for the second out.
Two-out RBI
Dylan Moore helped make up for a Mariners base running blunder by smacking an RBI single to right-center field. Just like that, Seattle took a 2-1 lead.
Don’t pitch to Alvarez
Seattle left the bases loaded in the top of the sixth and paid for it in the bottom half of the inning.
After Jeremy Pena blooped a single in-between second baseman Adam Frazier and center fielder Julio Rodriguez, Alvarez blasted a two-run home run to left, putting the Astros up 3-2.
Not how Seattle drew it up
The Mariners opted to intentionally walk Alvarez, but their plan backfired when Alex Bregman’s single to right field brought in Jeremy Peña anyway.
With that, Houston extended its lead, 4-2, in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Mariners sinking
Julio Rodríguez’s two-out double brought the tying run to the plate, but Ryan Pressly struck out Ty France to end it. The Astros are one win away from advancing to a sixth consecutive championship series. Game 3 is Saturday in Seattle.
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