Houston Astros a picture of resilience in a critical victory over Mariners to retake first in AL West

Houston Astros' Jeremy Peña (3) is hit by a pitch in the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Kevin Ng) (Kevin Ng/AP Photo/Kevin Ng) SEATTLE - Cristian Javier induced a whiff to end Tuesday's second inning with a trial for his team already germinating. Facing his last batter, Javier felt tightness in his right groin. A few hundred feet behind him, center fielder Brice Matthews limped on a left knee aggravated on a sliding catch earlier in the inning.

>Seven ensuing innings captured the fortitude the Houston Astros may need to maintain for the next five days to rescue their season. Sustaining a series of injury blows, the Astros still dictated a 7-0 win against a Mariners team that has vexed them in a strong response to start a decisive week.

>Being swept by Atlanta at home last weekend left Houston outside the American League playoff picture entering Tuesday. Sunday's finale spurred quiet slugger Yordan Alvarez to hold forth in a team meeting, an anomaly that reflected the urgency created by a September slide and six games remaining.

>"Like I said before, there's no other option," Alvarez echoed Tuesday night, through an interpreter. "It's just going out there and winning."

>ASTROS 7, MARINERS 0

HoustonABRHBIBBSOAvg.Totals38712758Peña ss421002.275Allen ss000000.271Alvarez dh412310.314Paredes 3b412110.262Altuve 2b512002.250Diaz c512001.280Walker 1b511301.221Trammell lf-cf300020.200Smith rf501001.209Matthews cf201011.201Velázquez lf100000.192SeattleABRHBIBBSOAvg.Totals3004059Crawford ss-3b300010.220Arozarena lf100021.279Canzone dh401001.261Raleigh c300010.181Rodríguez cf402000.245Naylor 1b400001.266Young 2b-ss301012.246Montes rf400002.190Rodden 3b100001.197a-Ward ph100000.222Wilson 3b000000.213b-Arroyo ph-2b200001.318Houston103001020_7120Seattle000000000_041a-lined out for Rodden in the 5th. b-flied out for Wilson in the 7th.

>E_Rodden (6). LOB_Houston 10, Seattle 9. 2B_Smith (17). HR_Walker (26), off Gilbert; Paredes (23), off Ferrer; Alvarez (41), off Vargas. RBIs_Alvarez 3 (102), Walker 3 (83), Paredes (91). SB_Peña (10), Arozarena (24), Young (4).

>Runners left in scoring position_Houston 4 (Trammell 2, Paredes, Alvarez); Seattle 3 (Raleigh, Rodden, Rodríguez). RISP_Houston 3 for 10; Seattle 0 for 3.

>Runners moved up_Peña. LIDP_Smith. GIDP_Peña, Naylor.

>DP_Houston 1 (Allen, Walker); Seattle 2 (Rodden, Young, Naylor; Naylor).

HoustonIPHRERBBSONPERAJavier210022455.14Ullola, W, 1-0210002332.84Sousa210023404.91Blubaugh100010103.66VanWey210002251.80SeattleIPHRERBBSONPERAGilbert, L, 12-114104423813.81Ferrer12-311102293.98Bazardo11-300011223.86Vargas112211205.51Rucker100011176.02IBB_off Gilbert (Alvarez). HBP_Ullola (Arozarena), Vargas (Peña).

>ABS Challenge_Diaz (Strike-Confirmed); Javier (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Walker (Strike-Confirmed); Bazardo (Ball-Confirmed).

>Pitch timer violations_Gilbert (pitcher).

>Umpires_Home, Ryan Blakney; First, Marvin Hudson; Second, Tripp Gibson; Third, Jansen Visconti.

>T_3:03. A_33,382 (47,929).

>The Astros played like it in the opener of a series at T-Mobile Park, even as they saw several teammates exit abruptly. Javier lasted two innings. Four relievers - two of them rookies - combined to throw seven scoreless innings and allow three hits.

>Matthews, starting in center field with Daulton Varsho sidelined by a wrist injury, and shortstop Jeremy Peña also departed. Houston's embattled lineup had 12 hits. With the win, it pulled back into a tie atop the AL West with the Rangers and, with a tiebreaker over Texas, regained control of its playoff fate.

>"That's kind of been the narrative this season, right? It's like next man up," said first baseman Christian Walker, who hit the first of three Astros home runs. "Guys are hard to replace; that's never the goal. But there's always an opportunity for someone to come in and play a huge role in doing something special."

>That the Astros are in playoff position at 78-79 is a product of their dismal division as well as their own resilience. Still, the latter has been necessary. They started 20-31 after injuries and ineffective pitching plagued them for two months. They righted their trajectory to reach first place by the end of July.

>But it has not been linear. A disastrous August homestand preceded their general manager's dismissal. The Astros won four of their next five series to build a three-game division lead. It disappeared as they went 2-7 in a stretch that included being swept by the Rays and Atlanta, a pair of first-place clubs.

>The series against the Braves, in which their sputtering offense totaled seven runs across three games, left the Astros requiring a last response in this final week to avoid missing the postseason for a second consecutive year. It would resemble what unfolded at multiple stages Tuesday night.

>A lineup with the second-fewest runs in the majors since the Aug. 3 trade deadline put Logan Gilbert on the ropes early. The Astros opened the game with four straight hits but extracted one run from the rally, with Walker's bases-loaded flyout helping extinguish it. They still led 1-0 in the third when Walker came up with two men on base and lined a Gilbert slider over the left-field wall, opening up a four-run lead.

>Javier, who had navigated two scoreless innings, did not return to the mound in the bottom of the third. He later said, through an interpreter, his right groin had tightened on his final few pitches in the second. Javier voiced hope postgame he will be available for his next turn.

>His exit, however, pushed the Astros' depleted bullpen into early action. AJ Blubaugh, who has entered such situations before, is now a leverage arm with Steven Okert and Enyel De Los Santos both injured. Miguel Ullola, making his ninth major-league appearance, instead restored a semblance of stability. The rookie right-hander worked two scoreless innings, retiring six of eight batters faced.

>"Miggy's been really good," manager Joe Espada said. "He's not afraid of contact, he's not afraid of who is at the plate."

>Bennett Sousa followed Ullola with two innings and has allowed one run in 8⅔ innings in September after a brutal stretch last month. Blubaugh, who had been scored upon in five of his last seven outings, worked a scoreless seventh. Alvarez annihilated a two-run home run in the eighth that allowed Espada the luxury of using Logan VanWey to cover the final two innings with a seven-run lead.

>They were not without concern, however. Matthews, who missed about three months with a left knee sprain incurred before the All-Star break, aggravated the same knee on his sliding catch in the second inning, Espada said. He was removed in the sixth and replaced by Nelson Velázquez - not Varsho, who Espada acknowledged postgame was unavailable due to a left wrist issue.

>In the eighth, Peña was struck on the right forearm by a 96.3 mph pitch, slamming his bat to the ground in frustration. Peña stayed in to run the bases but was replaced on defense in the bottom of the inning. Espada said postgame Peña had undergone X-rays that did not show a fracture. Still, it was an unsettling sight for Houston with its leadoff man and sparkplug.

>Espada said postgame it was still too early to have an outlook for either Matthews or Javier, though he said Matthews would not play Wednesday. Whether Varsho will be available is an open question. So is the state of the bullpen behind rookie Ethan Pecko, who will start the finale against Seattle, though the Astros will have Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader rested to potentially close it out.

>That none of those setbacks derailed the Astros from a win that felt mandatory must be encouraging. Losing 10 of 14 games before it left them needing to rebound. Tuesday night illustrated the capacity.

>"Unfortunately, we lost three of those guys out there tonight," Alvarez said. "But hopefully they'll recover pretty quickly and be able to help us for the final games."

SubscribeThere’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Houston Astros a picture of resilience in a critical victory over Mariners to retake first in AL West.