WATCH: Jeremy Pena 18th Inning Home Run Sends Astros to 6th Straight ALCS
It only took 18 innings and nearly six and a half hours, but the Houston Astros took care of business Saturday night at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, sweeping the Seattle Mariners and clinching their sixth straight American League Championship Series appearance.
Rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the 18th inning, hammering a solo home run over the centerfield wall off Mariners reliever Penn Murfee.
Game three started at 1:07 p.m. PT and ended just after 7:30 p.m. PT.
Neither team scored a run for the first 17 innings, as Seattle left ten men on base and the Astros stranded 14 baserunners.
Both starters were dominant. Lance McCullers Jr. tossed six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and two walks, striking out seven. Rookie George Kirby threw seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits and no walks, striking out five.
As the game dragged on, both managers were forced to go deep into their bullpens, as Mariners manager Scott Servais used nine different relief pitchers and Astros manager Dusty Baker used seven.
The Astros will play in the ALCS for the sixth straight year, a streak that began in 2017, when they last won the World Series. Of course, their 2017 title will always be scrutinized due to the team's sign-stealing scandal.
The Astros will play the winner of the other American League Division Series, between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians. Entering play Saturday, the series was tied 1-1, with game four scheduled for Sunday.
The Mariners put up a great fight, leading both game one and game two, and taking the Astros to 18 innings Saturday, but their efforts were not enough to knock off the American League West champions and winners of 106 games, the Houston Astros.
The Mariners ended their 21-year postseason drought this season and also won their first playoff series since 2001. Though the record books will show that the Astros swept their division foe, the Mariners were right there in every game, and very easily could have won the series.
This may have just been round one of what could be an epic battle for AL West supremacy for the foreseeable future.
