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 On Friday night Springer caught a break, bouncing a bases-loaded
single off the glove of Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager to drive
in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning in the Astros'
5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park.
Springer, 0-for-5 with four strikeouts before his final plate
appearance, followed Jose Altuve, Dexter Fowler and Carlos Corporan,
who reached in succession on two singles and a fielder's choice that
loaded the bases.
Springer followed by chopping a 1-0 fastball from Charlie Furbush
(0-3) toward the backpeddling Seager, who failed to field the ball
cleanly as Altuve scored. That was just the fifth RBI on the season
for Springer.
"This was obviously a big hit for me, I guess," Springer said. "I
really didn't hit it that hard, but I'll take it. Hopefully this
will slow me down, give me some confidence and just get back in
there tomorrow and try to help us win again.
"I hit it and I saw it and I just said, 'Please get over his head.'
I guess I hit it high enough just enough to hit off his glove. Then
I saw him score and that was it."
Said Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon: "It was hit right at him.
There's not a lot you can do about that. That's the way it goes.
It's baseball."
Anthony Bass (1-0) earned the win for Houston (10-19) with two
perfect innings of relief, capping a stellar night for the Houston
bullpen.
Left-hander Tony Sipp, signed by the Astros earlier Friday, retired
all five batters he faced in his first appearance with the club. He
entered in the seventh inning with runners at the corners and two
outs and induced a soft line drive back to the mound off the bat of
Robinson Cano.
Three Seattle relievers piecemealed their way through the sixth and
seventh innings before the Astros rallied against Yoervis Medina in
the eighth. Left fielder Alex Presley worked a one-out walk,
advanced to third on a Matt Dominguez single and scored when
shortstop Jonathan Villar deposited a swinging bunt single down the
first-base line.
Presley held at third on the play but scored when Medina stumbled
toward the ball before finally opting to make the throw toward
first, where he nipped Villar at the bag. That pulled Houston even
at 4-apiece.
Jose Cisnero, Sipp, Chad Qualls and Bass then held firm until the
Astros executed sublimely on offense before Springer delivered in
the clutch.
"It definitely was a good overall effort," Astros manager Bo Porter
said. "You look at those guys down there and we just continue to
tell them when your name is called, come in and do your part. Don't
try to do more than that. Just come in and do your part and tonight
is a prime example of each one of those guys, from Cisnero to Sipp
to Bass to Qualls, they just came in and did their part. And that's
a great result."
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Astros designated hitter Marc Krauss' RBI single in the third
inning scored Fowler from second, doubling the Houston lead to 2-0.
After the Mariners pulled even with a two-run home run from catcher
Mike Zunino in the fifth inning, Krauss delivered an RBI single to
right, scoring Jason Castro in the bottom of the fifth for a 3-2
Houston lead.
Houston right-hander Brad Peacock surrendered the lead immediately,
allowing three of the first four batters to reach in the sixth
before giving up a two-run single to Seager. He outlasted Mariners
right-hander Felix Hernandez, who was battling illness and left
after five wobbly innings.
"I still feel bad," Hernandez said. "I still have to go out there
and do my job."
NOTES: The Astros announced the signing of LHP Tony Sipp, who
received his release from the San Diego Padres after spending the
first month with Triple-A El Paso. Sipp is 14-9 for his career with
a 3.84 ERA over 304 games with the Cleveland Indians and Arizona
Diamondbacks. He was 1-1 with a 4.30 ERA with El Paso. The Astros
optioned RHP Paul Clemens to Triple-A Oklahoma City to make room for
Sipp on the 25-man roster and transferred RHP Jesse Crain to the
60-day DL to make room for Sipp on the 40-man roster. ... Mariners
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma will be activated from the 15-day disabled list
and make his first start of the season on Saturday. Iwakuma finished
third in the American League Cy Young Award voting last season and
missed the first month of this season with a torn extensor tendon in
his right middle finger. ... Mariners CF Abraham Almonte batted
ninth for the first time this season, having spent 23 of his
previous 24 starts hitting atop the order. He entered the weekend
batting .204/.248/.301.
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