It was a brutal defeat for the Seattle Mariners in Game 1 of the ALDS on Tuesday afternoon.
They came to within one strike of taking the series opener and having a chance to gain a 2-0 advantage on Thursday with Luis Castillo on the mound, but the Houston Astros kept fighting back.
After Houston had cut into Seattle’s 7-3 lead, the Mariners turned to closer Paul Sewald to try and secure the Game 1 victory.
However, the Astros continued to battle and ultimately forced the Mariners’ hand.
As Yordan Alvarez came to the plate, manager Scott Servais pulled Sewald and put in Robbie Ray to create a lefty-lefty matchup.
Obviously, it didn’t work out, as Alvarez took Ray deep to win Game 1 for Houston.
After the game, Servais was asked about his decision to use Ray in that situation, and he had this to say.
Scott Servais on having Ray face Yordan:
"We talked about it coming into the series. We talked about it pregame today. I looked at it in the 7th inning and said, hey, this could happen. So that was the plan going in. End of the day, you have a plan, we still got to execute it."
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) October 11, 2022
Servais Defends Ray Decision
On paper, it’s a decent matchup.
In the postseason, managers do whatever they can to win ballgames.
They pull out all the stops when necessary.
With Sewald struggling and Ray ready, Servais did his best to mix and match.
Ultimately, the Mariners got burned.
But clearly, it was something that Servais and the Mariners had toyed around with and something that they felt comfortable with doing.
Unfortunately, it backfired on them, and the Astros completed an epic comeback.
But Servais made it clear that it came down to actually executing the plan, rather than take heat over making what many saw as a controversial decision.
The Mariners will have Castillo going against Framber Valdez in Game 2 on Thursday as they look to even things up before the ALDS heads to Seattle.
NEXT: Mariners Veteran Comments On His Sole Focus