HOUSTON, TEXAS – MAY 03: Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros steals the 300th base of his career against Dylan Moore #25 of the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Minute Maid Park on May 03, 2024 in Houston, Texas. (Jack Gorman / Getty Images)
HOUSTON – Jose Altuve hit a go-ahead bunt RBI single and collected his 300th career stolen base in Houston’s four-run seventh inning to lead the Astros to a 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.
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The 2017 AL MVP is the fifth player in MLB history to have at least 300 steals, 2,000 hits, 400 doubles, 200 homers and a career batting average of .300 or higher, joining Derek Jeter, Paul Molitor, Willie Mays and Roberto Alomar.
“It’s always good to get milestones like that, but I think that we are in the wrong time to think about stats because we’re trying to win games and cover some ground we lost in the beginning,” Altuve said. “But yeah I’m very happy and thankful for this kind of stuff.”
The Astros moved into a tie with the Angels for last place in the AL West at 12-20 while the first-place Mariners fell to 17-15.
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The Mariners missed a scoring opportunity in the eighth. Josh Rojas was on second and Julio Rodríguez on third with no outs before Ryan Pressly struck out Jorge Polanco.
Mitch Haniger then hit a high fly ball to right field that Kyle Tucker caught. Rojas took off toward home before quickly retreating to third base. But Rodríguez dashed toward third, forcing Rojas into a rundown that resulted in him being tagged out at the plate to end the inning.
“We didn’t play good baseball,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “Free bases, base running miscues, you can’t do that on the road against a good team.”
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Josh Hader walked one in a scoreless ninth for his third save.
“We’ve just got to continue to remind ourselves how good we are when we play our style of baseball, doing the little things well,” manager Joe Espada said. “And when we do that, we are a really, really good team.”
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Jeremy Peña got things going in the seventh with a walk before a single by Yainer Diaz. There was one out in the inning when Gabe Speier (0-1) came in and walked pinch-hitter Jake Meyers to load the bases.
The Astros cut the lead to one when Peña scored on an error by catcher Cal Raleigh on a pickoff attempt. A sacrifice fly by Mauricio Dubón scored Diaz to tie it before Altuve’s hit.
Altuve’s bunt rolled toward third base allowing Meyers to score just before Altuve beat the throw by Rojas to first to make it 4-3.
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“I felt like we needed this game and it was a must-win for us, so I decided to take the chance,” Altuve.
Altuve stole second base before consecutive walks by Tucker and Yordan Alvarez loaded the bases for the second time in the inning. Cody Bolton replaced Speier and he walked Alex Bregman to extend the lead to 5-3.
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Polanco hit a solo homer for Seattle in the third and Dylan Moore’s two-run shot in the fifth made it 3-1.
The bullpen struggles ruined a strong start by George Kirby. He allowed four hits and one run in six innings for Seattle’s 20th quality start this season, which leads the majors.
Servais said he pulled Kirby after six because he is dealing with a right knee issue that he doesn’t consider to be major.
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Houston starter Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut, allowed five hits and a season-high three runs in six innings. Seth Martinez (2-2) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win.
There was one out in the fourth when Alvarez snapped an 0-for-18 skid with a double to center field. Bregman singled to send him to third before the Astros tied it when Alvarez scored on Peña’s groundout.
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TRAINER’S ROOM Astros: RHP Cristian Javier (sore neck) will make a rehabilitation start for Double-A Corpus Christi on Saturday. He is expected to throw 60-65 pitches. Manager Joe Espada said they expect him to come off the injured list after that start.
UP NEXT Houston LHP Framber Valdez (1-0, 2.60) opposes RHP Logan Gilbert (2-0, 2.03) when the series continues Saturday night.
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On Thursday night, it was announced that Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh had finished 12th in the American League MVP voting. This concluded an unbelievable award season for the M’s catcher. In addition to finishing 12th in the MVP voting, Raleigh was a finalist for the American League Silver Slugger. He also won both the Gold Glove at catcher and the Platinum Glove in the American League.
However, the MVP news wasn’t the biggest piece of Raleigh-related news on Thursday. According to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, Raleigh dropped agent Scott Boras in favor Excel Sports Management.
Seattle Mariners Gold Glove catcher Cal Raleigh has switched his representation to Excel Sports Management, per sources.
Now, we don’t officially know the reason for the change, but some Mariners fans online took it to mean that the M’s have a greater chance of signing Raleigh to an extension now.
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Take @MarinerMuse for example:
Fine, I’ll say it out loud:
This is the move you make if you want to sign an extension and you have the free agency manipulation agent.
Fine, I’ll say it out loud:
This is the move you make if you want to sign an extension and you have the free agency manipulation agent.
Raleigh is headed into arbitration this season and is under contract through the 2027 regardless. The M’s certainly would want to lock Raleigh up long-term as he’s one of the best catchers in all of baseball, but it only gets harder to do as he gets closer to free agency.
Furthermore, he’s 27 years old now, making an extension that takes him to 32-33 more desirable than giving him a long-term deal in the future. He’ll be 30 when his rookie deal ends and any extension would likely take him deep into his mid-30s.
Raleigh hit 34 homers this year to lead all catchers. He drove in 100 runs also, in addition to his defensive prowess.
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Seattle Sounders FC (16-9-9, fourth in the Western Conference during the regular season) vs. Los Angeles FC (19-8-7, first in the Conference during the regular season)
The MLB offseason is in full swing, but things have been rather quiet for the Seattle Mariners so far.
Seattle Mariners have a new TV situation, according to The Athletic
President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander are both on record saying the team is looking to add to its offense, particularly on the infield. But the team hasn’t been committal to how exactly they’ll approach that.
Seattle could look to upgrade in free agency. This year’s class isn’t very strong on the infield, but there are still a handful of options that seem to fit the club’s needs.
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The team also could go the trade route and offload some of its touted hitting prospects or a proven starter from its talented starting rotation to address its offensive needs. It seems more likely the trade route would include a package built around prospects rather than one of the team’s current starting pitchers. Both Dipoto and Hollander have said trading a starter isn’t one of their top options, with Dipoto calling it “Plan Z” during an end-of-season interview.
Seattle Sports’ Michael Bumpus is trying to read between the lines and figure out what the real plan is for the M’s this offseason. During Thursday’s edition of Bump and Stacy, he asked ESPN baseball insider Kiley McDaniel about the team’s offseason approach.
“They’re in a spot now where they have tried for, I guess, a couple offseasons now to shore up the offense while staying within their spending parameters,” McDaniel said. “There was that time four or five years ago (the 2019 season) where there was the quick reset where they underpaid relative to what they could have paid the payroll to then have more money to, then ramp up spending when the team was good. And that has now happened and they need an extra bat or two, but they don’t have the money to go on the free agent market and just pay $20-25 million per year to get the two bats they need.”
That puts the Mariners in a difficult spot decision-wise, McDaniel said. They could trade from the farm system and risk dealing away a future star for a shorter-term solution. Or they could go for under-the-radar signings of cheaper players, which hasn’t worked out in past seasons with the likes of AJ Pollock and Tommy La Stella.
“There’s no easy solution to this the same way that like (if) the Mets or the Dodgers want a hitter, they just get a hitter,” McDaniel said. “The Mariners have a puzzle and they’re missing a piece. So how do they manufacture that extra piece to solve the puzzle, which is basically spending $1 million on a guy that will be worth 20, or not trading a prospect that they think is good and getting a good player. They have to conjure something up kind of magically.”
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McDaniel said the easiest route for the front office may be one fans don’t want to hear after the past two seasons, which is being patient and waiting for the group of hitting prospects to start reaching the majors. Just two of the team’s top hitting prospects are projected to reach the big leagues this year by MLB Pipeline – second baseman Cole Young and catcher Harry Ford. Both played at the Double-A level last season, and Young is expected to start the 2025 season in Triple-A.
“They’ve done a really good job creating a good farm system full of young hitters,” McDaniel said. “So I think unfortunately … the easiest answer is to just wait a year or two until these guys come up and then you maybe have the homegrown solution, but then some of the veterans that are contributing right now, they might be gone, which then creates another problem. … There is not an easy solution to this issue other than raising payroll, which is obviously only up to the owner.”
A free agent fit M’s
McDaniel spoke about a few free agents who would fit the Mariners’ needs. Two were players McDaniel would advise teams not to sign: first basemen Justin Turner and Pete Alonso. Both were included as two of his free agents to avoid this offseason.
Someone who McDaniel thinks makes sense for Seattle to go after, though, is former New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres.
“Gleyber Torres (is) coming off a slightly disappointing year, one of the youngest guys in the free agent market (at) 28. I think two or three years at $15 to 17 (million) a year is probably what it costs,” McDaniel said. “He’s the guy that I think makes a lot of sense to possibly get some upside, get him locked in for multiple years (and he) can play multiple positions.”
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Torres was an All-Star in his first two seasons (2018-19), slugged a career-high 38 home runs during 2019 and produced a 113 OPS+ or higher in four of his first six seasons.
He hit a combined 49 home runs in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but saw his power numbers decline and hit just 15 last season. In 154 games in 2024, he slashed .257/.330/.378 with a 1.7 fWAR.
“You have a chance to spend less than $20 million a year and get a guy,” McDaniel said. “But if you miss on him, now you have almost no money left and you’re forced – if you need to find a hitter – to either get lucky on like a minor-league signing or a one-year deal, or to trades some prospects.”
Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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