Astros Win Extra-Innings Thriller Against Mariners Despite Alarmingly Poor Offense

The Houston Astros won on Tuesday, but their offense was poor once again.

Apr 8, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña (3) talks with a member of the Seattle Mariners during the fourth inning at T-Mobile Park | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros officially have a major problem.

Their offense is one of the worst in Major League Baseball, and while it's just a couple weeks into the season, what has taken place thus far is not giving anyone confidence about what this group can accomplish in 2025.

Once again, their issues at the plate were on full display Tuesday.

Despite getting back in the winner's circle in a 12-inning thriller, it was anything but pretty.

The Astros had multiple opportunities to win the game before it got to that point, taking a 1-0 lead on Cam Smith's first career Major League extra-base hit when he hit an RBI triple in the top of the seventh inning.

But after there was a fly out to right field, Houston opted not to be aggressive by keeping Smith on third base, something that came back to bite them when a ground out ended the frame with just one run scored.

The Seattle Mariners immediately struck back in the bottom half of the inning, setting up the marathon stand off that went late into the night.

Houston didn't score in the top of the 10th with runners on second and third. The same thing happened in the 11th when the bases were loaded with one out, only to have that frame end on a double play ball hit to third base.

Even in the 12th inning, when they finally plated the game-deciding run, the Astros were poor at the plate, ending the frame with runners on first and second after Mauricio Dubon struck out.

On Tuesday, Houston went 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position, leaving a staggering 12 men on base that should have resulted in way more than just two runs being scored.

This has been the story surrounding the Astros through their first 11 games.

They have scored the second-fewest runs (32) in Major League Baseball, tied with the Chicago White Sox, and are only ahead of the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies by one score.

Unsurprisingly, they are last in RBI (27), sit 26th in batting average (.202) and on-base percentage (.283) and are last in slugging percentage (.290).

It's not been a good start to the year for this group.

There is still plenty of time to turn things around, but after Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker secured the AL and NL Player of the Week Awards and are the best offensive players on their respective teams to start the season, that doesn't help the perception surrounding this organization.