HOUSTON — Yordan Alvarez smashed a game-ending, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off Robbie Ray, wrecking Seattle’s strategy of using a Cy Young Award winner in a rare relief role and vaulting the Houston Astros over the Mariners 8-7 Tuesday in their playoff opener.

Trailing all game after a poor start by Justin Verlander, the AL West champion Astros overtook rookie star Julio Rodríguez and the wild-card Mariners at the end to begin their best-of-five Division Series.

The Astros had been 0-48 in their postseason history when trailing by more than a run after eight innings until Alvarez homered deep into the seats to overcome a 7-5 decifit.

The no-doubt drive was the first walk-off homer in postseason history with a team trailing by multiple runs. And it was just the second walk-off homer with team down to its final out – the other was Kirk Gibson’s startling shot that lifted the Dodgers over the A’s in the 1988 World Series opener.

Houston rookie pinch-hitter David Hensley reached with one out in the ninth as Seattle closer Paul Sewald grazed his jersey with a pitch. Sewald struck out Jose Altuve before Jeremy Peña laced a single to center field to chase Sewald.

Mariners Manager Scott Servais then made the bold move to bring in Ray, who started Saturday at Toronto in the AL wild-card series, for a lefty vs. lefty matchup with Alvarez. Ray won the Cy Young last year with Toronto, had made only six relief appearances in his career and had never earned a pro save.

A percentage move – or was it?

Alvarez had a .998 OPS against left-handed pitchers this season, by far the highest among qualified left-handed hitters, and 10 home runs. And his batting average against lefties was .321, compared to .299 vs righties.

Alvarez, who hit 37 homers in the regular season, turned around Servais’ plan by launching Ray’s second pitch into the seats in right field to set off a wild celebration with his Cuban parents in the stands.

The Mariners, back in the playoffs this year for the first time since 2001, were on the wrong end of a big comeback this time after rallying from a seven-run deficit in Game 2 to sweep their wild-card series with Toronto.

The Mariners jumped on Verlander for six runs in just four innings to build a 6-2 lead early. Yuli Gurriel hit a solo homer in the Houston fourth before Eugenio Suarez’s solo shot in the seventh extended Seattle’s lead to 7-3.

A two-run homer by Alex Bregman off Andrés Muñoz cut the lead to 7-5 in the eighth inning to set up the dramatic finish.

Alvarez had a two-run double in the third to get Houston’s offense going a bit before it really took off in the final two innings.

The Astros, who are trying to reach the ALCS for a sixth straight season, led the AL with 106 wins but looked a bit out of sorts early after a six-day layoff since their last regular-season game.

They got going late to continue their dominance of the Mariners in Houston after going 30-7 against them in the regular season at Minute Maid Park since 2019.

Verlander followed up his remarkable comeback season after missing almost two full seasons after Tommy John surgery with a flop in the worst postseason performance of his storied career.

He led the majors with a 1.75 ERA and topped the AL with 18 wins this season. He dominated the Mariners in the regular season, going 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA in six starts.

Expectations were high for him to build on a regular season that is expected to earn him his third Cy Young award in his first playoff appearance since Game 6 of the 2019 World Series.

Instead, the Mariners hit almost everything he threw in what was his 32nd playoff game. By the time he trudged off the mound mumbling something to himself after just four innings he’d given up a playoff career-high 10 hits with six earned runs, which tied his most in a postseason game.

The last four batters Verlander delivered, in order, a home run, triple, double and single.

Rodríguez tripled, doubled and scored three times and Ty France had three hits.

Rodríguez, who had just one single in the wild-card round, sparked things early as he drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a single by France. Cal Raleigh’s RBI single quieted a rowdy sellout crowd.

Adam Frazier and Jarred Kelenic hit consecutive singles to start the second. Rodríguez extended the lead to 3-0 when he hit a double into the gap in right-center.

France’s second single of the game came next to send Rodríguez home and leave Seattle up 4-0.

After pitching a clean third inning, Verlander ran into trouble again with two outs in the fourth when Crawford homered on a fastball high to push the lead to 5-2.

Rodriguez followed with a triple to the gap in left field. He lost his batting helmet as he rounded second, and after sliding safely into third, he smiled broadly and yelled, “Let’s go!” toward his dugout.

He scored when France doubled to left field to leave Seattle up 6-2.

Eugenio Suarez singled, but France was thrown out at home to end the inning and Verlander’s outing. With his disappointing day done, he got a hug and a pat from Manager Dusty Baker after he reached the dugout.

Mariners starter Logan Gilbert yielded five hits and three runs with five strikeouts in his playoff debut.

YANKEES 4, GUARDIANS 1: Gerrit Cole cruised for most of the night, Harrison Bader and Anthony Rizzo homered and New York beat Cleveland at Yankee Stadium in their AL Division Series opener.

Not even another Josh Donaldson baserunning blunder could slow the Yankees, who have won six straight postseason games against Cleveland dating to a comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the 2017 Division Series.

After rookie Steven Kwan put the Guardians ahead with a third-inning homer, Cole escaped a bases-loaded jam later in the inning by striking out Andrés Giménez.

Cole allowed just two more runners, on a single and his only walk, and got the win in his first postseason game for the Yankees in the Bronx. He left after giving up one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts.

Jonathan Loáisiga, Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes finished with two-hit relief to begin the best-of-five matchup.

Coming off a two-game sweep of Tampa Bay in the wild-card round, Cleveland struck out nine times, after having the fewest in the major leagues during the regular season.

The AL East champion Yankees, meanwhile, returned from a five-day layoff and got off to exactly the kind of start they wanted in the postseason.

Bader, acquired from St. Louis at the trade deadline, was back in the ballpark where he sat in the first-base seats to watch the 2009 postseason as a 15-year-old attending Horace Mann School, 5 miles away.

He tied the score 1-1 in the third when he reached down for Cal Quantrill’s sinker and sent it over the left-field wall, igniting a loud sellout crowd of 47,807 that had been standing for much of the early innings of the Yankees’ first home postseason game since 2019.

Jose Trevino hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth after Isiah Kiner-Falefa reached on a single into the right-field corner and Wild Card Series star Oscar Gonzalez allowed the ball to bounce throw his legs for a two-base error.

Rizzo, who caught the final out of the Chicago Cubs’ Game 7 World Series win over Cleveland six years ago, chased Quantrill with a drive into the right-field second desk in the sixth after Aaron Judge walked.

NOTES

YANKEES: Former batting champion DJ LeMahieu was left off the New York Yankees’ American League Division Series roster against Cleveland and may have a broken foot.

New York reliever Scott Effross also will miss the best-of-five series after he received the surprising diagnosis Saturday of a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Effross will have Tommy John surgery that will sideline him until 2024.

Matt Carpenter, rookie Oswaldo Cabrera and speedy outfielder Tim Locastro were included on New York’s 26-man roster. Rookie infielder Oswald Peraza just missed and outfielder Andrew Benintendi has not yet recovered from wrist surgery.

BLUE JAYS: Outfielder George Springer is awaiting clearance to travel after he suffered a concussion in his collision with shortstop Bo Bichette in last Saturday’s Game 2 of the AL wild card series, General Manager Ross Atkins said.

Atkins also revealed that Springer, who also sprained his left shoulder on the play and had to be carted off the field, played the second half of the season with a bone spur in his right elbow.

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