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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Thanks to Susan for the photo. She called to tell us about a dog stuck on the rocks off Beach Drive near Harbor West (the condos on pilings), and a crowd gathering to figure out how to rescue it from the rising tide. We were away from the desk at the time but after returning a little while later, we heard the situation mentioned on police radio, with word the dog had been rescued, so we didn’t head that way. Then late tonight Susan sent photos, explaining that the dog apparently is known to swim to those rocks and back, but for some reason got stuck this time, “until a paddle boarder and kayaker paddled out to it to coax it off the rocks and back to the shore.”
As Seattle’s month-long role as a host city for the Fifa Men’s World Cup draws to a close with a knockout match between the United States and Belgium, local match-day scenes, business boosters and media dispatches have projected an image of a sports-fueled boom town.
On match days, hordes of locals and visitors have packed the city’s waterfront and official watch parties, shattering public-transit records and buoying nearby beer sales. Local soccer-focused mainstays like the George & Dragon Pub have reported “incredible” increases in business. And, pointing to positive reporting by the Guardian and other international newspapers, Seattle’s business lobby says the city has “performed very, very well on the world stage”.
But the effects – and extent – of Seattle’s Fifa-fueled boom are murky. Some preliminary reports claim tourism volumes to the city are down year over year, struggling to outmatch the volume of visitors Seattle typically sees during its summer high season. Travel costs have spiked after the US-Israeli war on Iran, exacerbated by Fifa’s booking large tranches of hotel rooms, which created artificial scarcity for lodgings and raised prices. Many international visitors, including the city’s once-reliable base of Canadian tourists, have steered clear of Seattle since early 2025, after violent, draconian immigration enforcement and threats by Donald Trump against Canada. And, prior to today’s match, Seattle’s schedule featured many countries whose fans couldn’t attend the World Cup because of the Trump administration’s travel bans, including supporters from Iran and Senegal.
Soccer fans protesting against Iran’s current regime wave the country’s Pahlavi dynasty flag outside a bar near Seattle Stadium on 26 June. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
Pointing to these factors and confronting local economic challenges such as an ongoing wave of tech layoffs, some business owners have reported declining sales and question the cheery forecasts shared by tournament organizers prior to the World Cup. They await a final tally of the tourist volumes and benefits Fifa did or did not bring to Seattle, and wonder how the city’s economy might fare once the alleged boom subsides.
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‘They had hyped us up so much’
In early 2025, Vince Vu, owner of Anh Ơi Bake Shop, a Vietnamese American bakery, began receiving flyers and messages from consultants associated with the World Cup and city government. Seattle’s soccer stadium directly adjoins the city’s downtown core, as well as the Chinatown-International District, and draws large crowds to the area on match days. The consultants explained to Vu and other businesses in the area how they should prepare for a Fifa-induced flux of customers.
“They had hyped us up so much,” Vu said. “We had weekly meetings telling us, ‘Hey … make sure you’re going to double your staff and … double your inventory and do all this stuff, because [the World Cup is] going to be this great thing for the city.’”
The regional tourism board Visit Seattle initially forecast in 2024 that Seattle’s status as a World Cup host city would generate $929m in local economic activity; citing downturns in international travel to the US following Trump’s return to the presidency, Visit Seattle later revised its estimate to $845.6m, projecting a total count of 750,000 visitors over the course of the World Cup.
In the tournament’s opening days, Bloomberg reported that Seattle may be the only US host city to have seen a year-over-year decline in flight bookings, citing data from travel marketing platform Sojern. More recent data complicates that conclusion; Perry Cooper, a spokesperson for Seattle’s primary airport, said that Seattle has been “up in travelers” since the start of the World Cup by at least 3%, including a 4% year-over-year increase in international visitors.
Fans gather at bars before the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Australia at Seattle Stadium 19 June. Photograph: Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Siddhant Bahadur, who manages more than 40 short-term rentals in Seattle, said business has been fairly flat compared with last year’s summer high season for tourism. He thinks the city’s marginal increases in travel volumes during the World Cup are a “telling sign” that tourism to the city is otherwise down due to economic and geopolitical challenges.
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“I think we lost a lot of Canadians, and I think people are worried about the economy and about what’s going on in Washington, and, oh, by the way, we’re at war,” echoed short-term rental owner Marlow Harris, who said she’s seen a 30% hit to business.
In an emailed statement, Visit Seattle’s chief business officer, Kelly Saling, said declines in international tourism since 2024 have been “partially offset” by an increase in domestic tourism, meaning the city has not seen a “drop in forecasted visitors, just a change in the mix”. Local hotels have reported mixed results, with lower occupancy rates than projected, but with large increases in revenue; Fifa booked large blocks of hotel rooms before the World Cup and released them in the weeks leading up to the tournament, generating artificial scarcity and raising prices, according to local business leaders. Saling said hotel booking data has shown “peaks and valleys” around match days, which included a new revenue record on the night preceding the 19 June match between the US and Australia.
To Vu, the World Cup’s peaks have coincided with Anh Ơi Bake Shop’s lowest sales. When the US squared off against the Socceroos, Vu’s business saw just a quarter of its normal sales. Vu said other neighborhood businesses have reported similarly disappointing results: Regular patrons have avoided the neighborhood on match days to avoid traffic, he noted, adding that sports tourists may not be interested in “culturally specific businesses”.
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Soccer fans crowd in to watch the Iran and Egypt match on a giant screen on 26 June. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
The Seattle aquarium has also reported a downturn, despite its location on Seattle’s currently sports fan-saturated waterfront. Emily Malone, a spokesperson for the aquarium, noted a “decrease in attendance” during the tournament, “particularly on match days”. The aquarium has offered promotions for visitors wearing soccer gear, as well as free programs on the waterfront. Overlook Walk, a public park situated on the roof of Seattle Aquarium’s recently constructed pavilion, has drawn large crowds during World Cup watch parties.
A mixed financial picture, but optimism that visitors will return
Scott Stulen, director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum, began planning for the World Cup in 2024, and expected an uneven increase in footfall across its three locations. The museum’s free sculpture garden along the waterfront received new signage before the World Cup, and currently features a temporary mini-golf course designed by local artists. The sculpture garden has seen its foot traffic more than double, while visitor numbers to its downtown museum have stayed “basically flat”, as Stulen anticipated.
Some variables could not be planned in advance. Seattle’s group-stage matchups “weren’t ideal”, Stulen said, as the city missed out on fanbases that “stay a little bit longer” in host cities. Some World Cup organizers see a handful of teams – Argentina, England and France, among others – as special catalysts of economic activity, featuring dedicated fanbases with the financial means to stay longer in host cities.
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Seattle’s organizers also expected World Cup activity to “spread into the city a little bit more than it has”, though bars and restaurants are “killing it” if they’re located “in the right place”, Stulen said, framing the “positive activity” in downtown Seattle as “a win”.
US fans march together to the Seattle Stadium before the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Australia on 19 June. Photograph: Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Even marginal increases in sales can make a meaningful difference for local businesses preparing to weather future economic volatility, according to Daniel Pagard, who owns the George & Dragon Pub, a local British bar known for screening Premier League games and other international matches. Recent tech layoffs have affected some locals’ finances, and businesses are beginning to note the downstream effects.
“You definitely see a lot of it when people come out,” Pagard said. “Instead of maybe getting two half English breakfasts, they’re splitting one full English, because it saves them a few bucks, and [they’re] turning down that one extra pint before they leave.”
Seattle’s business lobby hopes visitors – and major tournaments – will come back. According to Joe Nguyễn, a former lawmaker who now leads the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Seattle’s business lobby hosted a trade delegation from Australia during the 19 June match, and expects some foreign direct investment to arise from that initiative. More broadly, he said Seattle has shown it is capable of hosting large-scale sports programming, and can efficiently deploy resources to accommodate large influxes of visitors.
Today’s match against Belgium may be the “craziest sporting event that Seattle’s probably ever seen”, he said. Nguyễn hopes the World Cup will bring the city closer to some of its ambitious goals.
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“Because of our remoteness in the north-west corner, people oftentimes will skip over us on their tours. Now they’ll think twice … I think the NFL will look to here to see if they should have some games, [and] I think this is helpful for us bringing back a basketball team,” he said.
