Yordan Alvarez homered in his first plate appearance of the season as part of a nine-run first inning, and the Houston Astros defeated the visiting Seattle Mariners 11-1 Friday night.
Yuli Gurriel also went deep in the first for Houston, which has won 17 of its past 18 games against the Mariners.
Left-hander Framber Valdez (1-2) went six innings, allowing one run on four hits for the victory. He walked three and struck out five.
The Mariners were scheduled to start left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, but he was scratched about 30 minutes before first pitch because of neck spasms.
Lefty Nestor Cortes (0-1) got the emergency start and retired just one of the nine batters he faced.
George Springer led off and appeared to fly out to right field, but the Mariners’ Austin Nola was called for catcher’s interference on the play as he got a piece of Springer’s bat as he tried to reach for the ball. Josh Reddick lined a single to center, and the runners advanced to second and third when the ball was misplayed by Kyle Lewis. With one out, Alex Bregman reached on an infield single, with Springer scoring.
Alvarez, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year who missed the start of the season after testing positive for COVID-19, lifted a 3-2 pitch just over the left field wall to give the Astros a 4-0 lead. Gurriel followed by lining a homer to left. After a pair of walks, Martin Maldonado lined a two-run double into the left field corner.
That was it for Cortes, who allowed eight runs, seven earned, on five hits with two walks and a strikeout.
Right-hander Bryan Shaw came on and allowed a single to right by Springer. Reddick lined a run-scoring double to right, and Jose Altuve reached on an error by shortstop J.P. Crawford, the Mariners’ third miscue of the inning, with Springer scoring. After a walk to Bregman loaded the bases, Alvarez hit into an inning-ending double play.
Gurriel led off the second with a triple and scored on Correa’s groundout.
The Astros added a run in the fifth as Alvarez was hit by a bases-loaded pitch.
Kyle Seager hit a first-inning sacrifice fly for Seattle.
—Field Level Media