MLB Rankings: Baseball’s Greatest Hits of Week-13 (June 23-29)

MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-13

9. Yuli Gurriel, 42 percent

The Houston Astros entered Friday’s game against Seattle having lost nine of their most recent 11 starts, outcomes that slowed their apparent march to another AL West title. And for most of Friday’s game, they appeared destined to stretch that string of futility to 10 defeats in 12 starts.

But when the Astros needed it most, they got a pair of major boosts, the pivotal one coming off the bat of Yuli Gurriel.

A succession of  Mariner relievers, led by Tommy Milone‘s five innings, silenced Houston’s offense on just six hits through the first seven innings. Seattle’s offense didn’t do much, but Austin Nola‘s third-inning home run off Wade Miley did give the M’s a 1-0 advantage that Milone and that pen nursed into the eighth.

But a single-run lead is always subject to change on short notice. With two out in the bottom of the eighth, Josh Reddick finally gave Astros fans something to cheer about, turning around an Anthony Bass pitch and delivering it into the right-field seats for a game-tying home run.

Seattle reliever Matt Festa survived a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth. But Festa could not survive Gurriel. After Michael Brantley grounded out to open the 10th, Gurriel authored a walk-out home run on a 2-2 count.

For the short term, anyway, the homer reversed Houston’s fortunes. One night later Gurriel produced a second consecutive walk-off win, although this one required a mere double in the bottom of the 10th to accomplish.