Julio Rodriguez belts homer, Andrés Muñoz finishes off Mariners' win over Astros
HOUSTON - In a rare glove-on appearance for one of the game's all-time great designated hitters, Edgar Martínez threw batting practice to Mariners hitters Monday afternoon at Daikin Park.
His first pitch nearly plunked J.P. Crawford, prompting a few playful barbs from longtime teammate Jay Buhner, in town for one of his occasional appearances with the Mariners broadcast team.
Martínez, the Mariners' senior hitting coach, soon settled in and began lobbing quality strikes.
No one was happier about that than Julio Rodríguez, who launched one blast after another way out to left field during batting practice, and then did it again with a towering 414-foot blast a couple hours later off Houston starter Peter Lambert to highlight the Mariners' 3-1 victory over the rival Astros in the opener of their four-game series.
It was Rodríguez's seventh homer of the season and it continued his torrid stretch at the plate over the past month.
As important as that homer was, it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the homer he hit off Martínez during batting practice to win a bet with a heckling Houston fan.
The fan had been chirping at the Mariners' star center fielder, challenging Rodríguez to hit one off a car-dealership sign just below the train tracks. Unprompted, the man offered up his shoes if Rodríguez could hit the sign.
A few pitches later, Rodríguez dented the exact sign, causing him to skip out of the batting cage and demand the man's shoes. (Turned out, the man was wearing well-worn flip-flops and Rodríguez, fortunately, was wearing batting gloves when he picked 'em up.)
Edgar threw the second pitch, like, a nice one up and in and I put a good swing on it and literally hit the 'Lexus' sign right in the middle," Rodríguez said. "And I literally walked out the cage and said, 'Give me your shoes!' It was funny."
Eventually, Rodríguez gave the fan his flip-flops back. "You look a little sad walking up the stairs (barefoot)," he told the man.
The Mariners have, indeed, been winning everything in Houston lately.
Mariners All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz, working through the toughest stretch of his career, struck out Yordan Alvarez for the game's final out, giving the Mariners their eighth straight victory over the Astros dating back to last season.
Muñoz had surrendered a two-out single to Jose Altuve, bringing Alvarez - the Mariners' longtime tormentor - to the plate as the potential tying run.
On a 2-2 pitch, Muñoz threw a 93-mph changeup off the plate that Alvarez chased for strike three, and Muñoz celebrated as emphatically as he ever has.
"A lot of emotions," Muñoz said. "I've been working a lot of stuff and as soon as I got in I said, 'I'm going to do my best,' and that's what I did. You saw my best. And all the time I try to do that. I was losing that a little bit (the past few weeks), but I'm going to continue working on it."
The Mariners (20-22) inched closer to .500 after their series loss in Chicago over the weekend.
The Astros, a team decimated by early season injuries, fell to 16-26.
After an effective - but truncated - start from George Kirby, rookie right-hander Nick Davila and emerging right-hander Cooper Criswell set the tone for a patchwork bullpen to finish the game off with four scoreless innings.
Eduard Bazardo, a day after taking the loss to the White Sox in Chicago, worked around a leadoff walk to pitch a scoreless eighth inning, then handed it over the Muñoz.
"Getting those outings today was incredible," M's manager Dan Wilson said. "That's what good teams do ... when you're able to step up and be in those situations, and those guys delivered.
Rodríguez, in his fifth season, is off to the best start in any season of his career, and he nearly homered in his first at-bat in the first inning off Lambert, sending a drive just foul near the left-field foul pole (he lined out to right field to end the at-bat).
In the third inning, Rodríguez belted a no-doubter off the facing of the high wall in left field to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead.
It was the 119th home run of his career, to go along with 119 stolen bases. (Over a 162-game season, that averages out to 30 homers and 30 steals.)
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With two outs in the second inning, Dom Canzone drove the Mariners' first run with a sharp opposite-field single to left field, driving in Randy Arozarena from second base.
On the next pitch, Cole Young singled to right field, driving in Luke Raley from second base with a head-first slide home. On both plays, M's third-base coach Carlos Cardoza showed no hesitation in sending both runners home, and the aggressiveness paid off both times.
Kirby allowed only one run in five innings, though he needed 99 pitches to get through those five innings. He scattered seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Zach Cole made a sliding catch running toward the left-field foul line to take away a would-be hit from Cal Raleigh in the ninth inning, ending a 0 for 4 night for the Mariners' star catcher, who is in a 0-for-36 funk.
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This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 11:42 PM.