18 - The Astros 1-0 victory over the Mariners, in which rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña’s go-ahead home run in the top of the 18th, helped the Astros to a sixth-consecutive ALCS appearance. The 18-inning contest is tied for the longest postseason game in franchise history.
The Astros and Braves played a wild game four in 2005 in the NLDS. The Astros trailed 6-1 entering the bottom of the eighth, before Lance Berkman hit a 1-out grand slam to get within 6-5. Astros catcher Brad Ausmus then of course hit a two-out solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extras. In the bottom of the 18th, with one out, Chris Burke hit a walk-off home run into the Crawford boxes to send the Astros to the NLCS.
6:22 - The total time of game in the 1-0 Astros victory. Saturday’s 18-inning marathon eclipsed the Astros and Braves game four, 18-inning affair by 32 minutes.
6 - Consecutive seasons the Astros have made an ALCS appearance. That’s the second-longest streak in baseball history, behind only the Atlanta Braves, who played in the NLCS eight straight years (1991-98).
1 - Saturday's win made the Astros the first team in baseball history to clinch two division series in the 18th inning.
The Mariners also became the first team in baseball history to lose an 18-inning game and lose a game on a walk-off home run in the same series.
16 - Jose Altuve finished 0-8 at the plate, including three strikeouts in game three. He’s in a 0-16 slump since the postseason began. Altuve hasn’t struggled to this degree in a postseason since 2015, when he went 0-17 the final four games of the Royals series. He also had an 0-10 stretch in ‘17 against the Yankees. This was also the first time in Altuve’s career he’s had eight at-bats in a game. Altuve has never been worse than 0-6 in any game in his major league career.
10 - Days of rest since Ryne Stanek last pitched. Stanek came in the game in relief of Bryan Abreu and started the 11th. He sent them down in order, including a strikeout and needed just 11 pitches.
20 - Times the Astros struck out Saturday. That’s a new postseason record for the franchise. They struck out 17 times in the first game of the 1998 NLDS against the San Diego Padres, in which Kevin Brown recorded 16 during his eight innings of shutout ball.
12 - Innings of stellar relief by the Astros bullpen. Starter Lance McCullers Jr. tossed six-innings of two-hit ball while striking out seven. The Astros efforts in the pen, with Hector Neris, Rafael Montero, Ryan Pressly, Bryan Abreu, Ryne Stanek, Hunter Brown and Luis Garcia combined for 15 strikeouts while surrendering just five hits.
19 - The combined opportunities both teams had runners in scoring position (0 for 11 for the Astros and 0 for 8 for the Mariners) throughout the 18-inning affair.
42:4 - The strikeout to walk ratio combined by both the Astros and Mariners in game three. The combined 42 strikeouts is also a new MLB playoff record.
8 - Pitchers the Astros used. With Jose Urquidy as the last arm in the pen, thankfully Luis Garcia was tremendous in relief. Garcia finished a ballgame for the first time all season, tossing 5-shutout innings allowing just two hits while striking out six on 64 pitches.
415 - Feet. That’s what it took for Astros rookie Jeremy Peña to launch himself and the Astros into the record books again, becoming just the fourth player ever to hit a home run in the 18th inning of a ballgame. Peña took Mariners reliever Penn Murfee deep on a 3-2 88-mph slider, the sixth pitch of the at-bat. Murfee had retired the previous five Astro hitters on just 10 pitches.
4 - The number of times a player has hit a home run in the 18th inning of a postseason game in baseball history. The Astros have done it twice.
21 - Years since the Mariners last hosted a home playoff game.
121 - Years that had gone by in which no two teams failed to score through 14 innings. With the Astros and Mariners scoreless until Peña’s home run in the 18th, it’s now happened twice in less than a week and a half. The Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays were scoreless through 14 innings just eight days ago.
NOTE: The Astros await the winner of the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees series, which the Guardians lead 2-1. Game four is set for 6:07 p.m. Sunday at Cleveland. If necessary, game five will be Monday in New York at 6:37 p.m. The ALCS will begin Wednesday, Oct. 19 at Minute Maid Park, first pitch is still TBD.