Mariners beleaguered bullpen busts through, blasts ‘Stros in 3-1 win

Q: What was the final score of the Mariners vs. Astros game on May 11, 2026?

The Seattle Mariners won the game against the Houston Astros with a final score of 3-1.

Q: Who hit a home run for the Mariners in their win over the Astros?

Julio Rodríguez hit a home run for the Mariners during their victory over the Astros.

Q: How did George Kirby perform against the Astros on May 11, 2026?

George Kirby had a good-not-great performance, striking out seven batters but struggling with pitch count and allowing one run.

Q: What challenges did the Mariners' bullpen face during the game against the Astros?

The Mariners' bullpen was missing two key leverage arms but managed to hold the Astros to just one run in the game.

May 11, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners pitcher Andres Munoz (75) celebrates after getting the final out during the ninth inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images Three runs of offense and five innings from a starter aren’t the typical blueprint for a Mariners win, but the bullpen – missing two of its leverage arms – made those three runs hold up in a 3-1 victory in the series opener with the Astros. This game got off to a frustrating start: the Mariners hit the ball hard in the first four batters but foul or into gloves – so of course the first hit to fall for the Mariners was an 87 mph exit velo parachute shot by Randy Arozarena with one out in the second. Astros starter Peter Lambert struggled with the zone after that, walking Luke Raley on five pitches and falling behind J.P. Crawford 3-1 before he lined out to Cam Smith in right field, but Dominic Canzone made sure the Mariners would get something out of the traffic, smoking a line drive (104.7 mph off the bat) that Astros left fielder Zach Cole couldn’t handle cleanly, allowing Arozarena to hustle home. then ambushed a first-pitch fastball up but in the middle of the zone for his own hard-hit RBI single (103.6 mph EV) to give the Mariners a 2-0 advantage and also treat us to some vintage Luke Raley Running. Look at him chug home like he’s driving a chariot made out of scrap metal harvested from the shores of Lake Erie and tell me this does not spark joy: Carrying forward the good vibes into the third, Julio eventually got his rightful homer. Crawford Boxes? He don’t need no stinkin’ Crawford Boxes. This was estimated at 414 feet but it feels like that pesky wall just got in the way of a ball that could have traveled deep into the heart of Texas. But the offense would shut down after that, leading to a game that was closer than it probably needed to be, especially because was good-not-great tonight. Last week I wrote about how Kirby has traded some of his strikeout stuff to become a groundball king in 2026, so today of course he decided to revert to 2025 Kirby, racking up seven strikeouts in his first four innings but also pushing his pitch count to 81 through those four innings. Kirby had to work around traffic in each of his first four innings as the Astros made him work, scattering base hits and walks but keeping the Astros from stacking a sustained threat. The biggest culprit for Kirby: a lack of first pitch strikes. Over those first four innings, he threw just seven of 17 first-pitch strikes, compared to 16 of 26 in his start against . Because he loves to be oppositional, right after I typed that paragraph Kirby immediately went back to throwing first-pitch strikes, throwing five of six in the fifth inning to bring his number up to a respectable ratio for the day. Because baseball loves to be oppositional even more, of course that was the inning where Kirby got stung by some bad batted-ball luck and porous infield defense to give up his first run of the day. It started, as most annoying Astros things do, with ambushing a first pitch, this time parachuting a sweeper (77 EV) into center. then punched a sinker that was in and off the plate for a single, because Yordan, and Paredes followed that with an RBI single on a sweeper that a rangy defensive shortstop gets to, but J.P. Crawford does not. Kirby was able to close things up from there without further damage on the scoreboard, but did take more damage to his pitch count, necessitating Dan Wilson to call on his bullpen about an inning before is ideal. The Mariners hitters – who did not score after the Julio homer in the third, allowing Jose Espada to ride a wave of cromulence with Lambert and save his deeply crummy bullpen – didn’t do their part to give the Mariners’ beat-down bullpen any extra help. To their credit, Nick Davila delivered a scoreless bottom of the sixth and a flurry of puns on his name, as did , forced into a leverage spot facing the top of the Astros lineup in the seventh. Criswell did get some help from a strong diving play by (!) at third, who wolfed up a ball hit weakly in front of him to rob Altuve of yet another annoying infield single against the Mariners, but Criswell also somehow struck out Yordan swinging on a slider that looked like it landed right in the middle of the plate. So much talk this spring training about how tall Cooper Criswell is and not enough about how he is, apparently, a powerful wizard. Speaking of powerful wizardry, you can’t spell “Boo, A Wizard!” without “Barzardo,” who bounced back nicely after a tough outing in to hang a Bazero in the bottom of the eighth, working around a leadoff walk but then obliterating his next three hitters, who looked very baffled by what was sending to the plate. The element of surprise! Sometimes it works out. Because of course the Mariners hitters failed to do anything in the ninth – except pinch-hitter , who got a single off Astros lefty to break up the long, long string of consecutive Mariners batters sent back to the bench – that meantAndrés Muñoz would be handed the same slender lead Davila, Criswell, and Bazardo all had to work with. Muñoz – which you should read if you were otherwise engaged on Sunday – has hovered just this side of the dreaded “embattled” label this season, but he was nails tonight, disposing of the Astros despite yet another pesky Altuve single, ending on this strikeout of Álvarez on the changeup of all pitche,s in an at-bat wheretwo pitches before he hit a season-high 101.3 mph. It was a fantastic exclamation point on a night when the bullpen carried the day. Not the typical route to a Mariners victory. But a necessary one, after the disappointment this weekend in Chicago, and an encouraging one, especially for the lesser-heralded bullpen arms. Tomorrow it will be Bryan Woo’s turn, and hopefully the Mariners hitters can provide him, and the hard-working bullpen, a little more offensive cushion.