Crawford's walk-off single lifts Mariners past Astros, 8-7 in ninth

The Mariners did not make this easy on themselves, and that was the point. They absorbed an early seven-run hole, survived a tense ninth and still walked off the Astros 8-7 before 43,294 at T-Mobile Park, the kind of win that says as much about temperament as talent.

Seattle fell behind 7-2, then clawed back with five runs in the fifth to erase the damage and reset the game. Julio Rodríguez delivered his first home run of the season, a 426-foot drive to center field that helped keep the rally alive, and Cal Raleigh added a two-run homer while driving in three runs overall. J.P. Crawford had already produced a bases-loaded two-run single earlier in the night before finishing the job with the final hit.

Houston had opened the game with pressure and power. Taylor Trammell’s early three-run double gave the Astros a jump-start, and the visitors later got a career-high four hits from Cam Smith, including a two-run single after a 13-pitch at-bat. Yordan Alvarez homered and collected three of Houston’s 17 hits, while Carlos Correa also turned in a three-hit night. Even with that offensive output, the Astros could not close it out and lost their sixth straight game.

The decisive sequence came in the ninth, when Andrés Muñoz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top half to keep Seattle alive. In the bottom half, Bryan Abreu walked Cole Young, Brendan Donovan and Leo Rivas before Crawford stepped in with the bases loaded and lined the winning single. It was his eighth career walk-off since joining the Mariners in 2019, tying Mitch Haniger for the franchise lead in MLB.com’s accounting.

Crawford has long made his value in these moments clear. MLB.com noted that he entered the night 30-for-77 with the bases loaded, a .390/.396/.766 line and 1.162 OPS across 91 plate appearances. For Seattle, that profile matters beyond one night in April. The Mariners needed a clean answer against a division rival, and instead they showed they could absorb blows, protect a tie late and trust the middle of the order and bullpen to survive until Crawford got his pitch.