HOUSTON – Jason Heyward delivered the most devastating of the Astros’ three homers off Logan Gilbert, helping Houston clinch the American League West crown with a 4-3 comeback victory over the Mariners on Tuesday night Minute Maid Park.
The Astros (86-72) overcame a 10-game deficit to the Mariners in mid-June to claim their seventh division title over the past eight seasons. The loss leaves the Mariners’ playoff hopes perilously thin.
With four games remaining, the Mariners (81-77) dropped 2½ games back of the Detroit Tigers for the third and final wild-card spot. Detroit and the Kansas City Royals are tied at 83-74, but the Royals hold the tiebreaker.
The Minnesota Twins (81-76) are one-half game ahead of the Mariners after a loss to Miami.
On the heels of Monday’s feel-good victory over the Astros, the Mariners built a 3-1 lead through three innings Tuesday against Houston veteran lefty Framber Valdez.
Gilbert was solid early, and his 1-2-3 third inning pushed him across the 200-inning threshold for the first time in his career.
With 213 strikeouts, Gilbert became the sixth pitcher in club history to throw 200 innings with 200 strikeouts in a season, and the first since 2014, when Felix Hernandez had 248 strikeouts in 236 innings (and a 2.14 ERA).
The Mariners’ two-run lead didn’t last.
Seattle’s offense couldn’t push across another run after the third, and Gilbert was tagged for four runs in six innings, with one walk and six strikeouts.
Heyward has single-handedly put a significant dent in Seattle’s season over the past month, homering in his past three appearances against the Mariners.
Playing for the Dodgers, the veteran outfielder hit a three-run, eighth-inning homer off Mariners closer Andres Muñoz on Aug. 20, sending Los Angeles to a 6-3 victory.
Designated for assignment by the Dodgers a couple of days after that, Heyward signed with the Astros. On Monday, Heyward homered for the Astros’ only run in a 6-1 loss to the Mariners.
His biggest blow came in the fifth Tuesday when he turned on an elevated 99-mph fastball from Gilbert and launched it 397 feet out to right-center, giving the Astros a 4-3 lead.
Heyward’s homer came two batters after Victor Caratini had reached on a single to right field that just got past Justin Turner, glancing off the first baseman’s glove and rolling slowly into the outfield grass.
Alex Bregman hit a first-pitch fastball from Gilbert with two outs in the first inning to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.
Kyle Tucker hit a towering solo homer off Gilbert in the fourth that just cleared the wall in right field. It was measured at 336 feet and, per Statcast metrics, would have been a homer in just 10 of 30 MLB parks.
That got the Astros with 3-2.
The Mariners took a 3-1 lead through the first three innings off Valdez.
Jorge Polanco hit a 337-foot homer way out to left field in the second inning, his 16th of the season.
Randy Arozarena’s double drove in Julio Rodriguez to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead in the third.
Polanco followed with a two-strike single to left field to score Cal Raleigh.
But the Mariners failed to add on when they had chances. Mitch Garver grounded into an inning-ending double play in the third, and Valdez then retired the next six Seattle batters.
In the sixth, Justin Turner singled and Polanco walked to put two on with no outs.
After a Garver groundout moved both runners, J.P. Crawford struck out for the third time, the final batter Valdez would face.
On the first pitch from Astros reliever Bryan Abreu, pinch-hitter Luke Raley grounded out weakly to first to end the inning.
The Mariners put two runners on with one out in the eighth off Ryan Pressly. Turner walked and Polanco singled through the right side for his fourth hit of the night.
Pinch runner Leo Rivas advanced to third on a wild pitch. Garver popped up Heyward in shallow left field, and the Astros turned to left-handed closer Josh Hader to face Crawford, the Mariners’ left-handed shortstop.
It worked: Crawford struck out on a check-swing strike three call on a 97-mph fastball low and outside, stranding Rivas at third and Polanco at first.
It was Hader’s 102nd strikeout in 69 innings.
Hader retired pinch-hitter Luis Urias to start the ninth, then struck out Victor Robles and Rodriguez to end it.