HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- On the strength of a five-run fifth inning, capped by Michael Brantley's three-run homer, the Astros opened the 2020 season with a 8-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.
The Mariners took a 2-1 lead into the frame on the strength of solo home runs from Kyle Lewis and Kyle Seager off of Justin Verlander. In between, Martin Maldonado singled home Josh Reddick to account for the Astros run. The home half of the fifth started with an Aledmys single, and then the Astros capitalized on some shaky Seattle defense.
Maldonado followed Diaz and hit a ground ball to third, Seager ranged to his left to field it, but his throw to second was offline, allowing Diaz to advance to third. The Astros tied the game on Jose Altuve's infield single to the whole at short. After the Mariners lifted starter Marco Gonzales in favor of Zac Grotz, Alex Bregman gave the Astros the lead with an RBI single. Brantley followed a smacked a 2-1 changeup over the right field wall to make it 6-2.
Houston added to the lead in the sixth when Maldonado followed Abraham Toro's double with a run scoring single, and Carlos Correa doubled home Yuli Gurriel in the seventh.
The offense was in support of Verlander, who allowed two runs on three hits over six innings with seven strikeouts. He needed just 73 pitches to record 18 outs. Chris Devenski worked around a double and struck out the side in the seventh, while Blake Taylor threw up a zero in his Major League debut in the eighth, and Enoli Paredes did the same, also making his Major Legaue debut in the ninth.
Brantley and Maldonado finished with a pair of hits for the Astros and drove in five of their eight runs.
Springer finished 0-for-3 with two walks, ending his streak of home runs on opening day at three.
Diaz left the game in the seventh with right groin discomfort.
Making his first career opening day start, Gonzales allowed four runs, three earned in 4.1 innings.
Lance McCullers Jr. will get the ball for the Astros in game two of the 2020 season in his first Major League appearance since 2018 opposite Taijuan Walker
