The Seattle Mariners’ nine-game winning streak against the Houston Astros came to a screeching halt on Wednesday night at Daikin Park, but the final score wasn’t the only concern for the club. In a tense, extra-innings 4-3 loss, the Mariners not only lost their grip on a divisional rival—they may have also lost their star catcher, Cal Raleigh, to a recurring right side injury that’s been dogging him for weeks.
It was a bizarre, drama-filled contest from the jump. Mariners starter Bryce Miller, making his much-anticipated return from the injured list, delivered his hardest-throwing outing ever as a major leaguer, averaging 97.6 mph on his fastball and even touching 99.2 mph in the first inning. “Everything felt great,” Miller said after the game. “The velo was good, the shapes on everything was really good. I thought I located well. … Overall, the stuff felt good and physically I felt 100 percent.”
Miller, who missed most of 2025 with bone spurs in his elbow and the first quarter of 2026 with a sore oblique, looked sharp early. He scattered five hits over 5 1/3 innings, walked just one, and struck out three. Most of the contact he allowed was soft, and he managed to escape a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by striking out Jose Altuve and inducing a pop-up from Isaac Paredes. “I thought Bryce threw the ball incredibly well,” manager Dan Wilson offered postgame, clearly pleased with his starter’s return.
The Mariners’ offense got things started quickly. J.P. Crawford led off the game with a solo home run—his 15th career leadoff shot—to put Seattle on the board. Luke Raley added his team-leading ninth homer in the sixth, launching an opposite-field blast off Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. But despite plenty of baserunners throughout the evening, the Mariners couldn’t string together the big hit to blow the game open.
Things took a strange turn in the sixth inning. Miller, still throwing heat, gave up a leadoff homer to Christian Walker that just cleared the wall in right field. Then, a foul ball struck home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz in the mask, forcing Ortiz to exit and causing a 15-minute delay as an emergency umpire suited up. When play resumed, Miller allowed back-to-back singles before being lifted for Cooper Criswell. The Astros tied the game at 2-2 in the inning after Criswell walked Altuve with the bases loaded.
But the real drama—and the biggest blow for Seattle—came in the bottom of the eighth. Eduard Bazardo, on in relief, fielded a bunt and fired a wild throw to second base. The ball skipped into center field, where Julio Rodríguez bobbled it before hurling it back toward the plate. Raleigh, hustling up the third base line, made an awkward stretch to keep the ball in front of him and immediately grabbed at his right side in visible pain. He stayed in the game for a few more batters, but the damage was done.
Moments later, with the bases loaded, Christian Vázquez hit a chopper to short. Crawford threw home for the force, but as Raleigh attempted to pivot and throw to first for a potential 6-2-3 double play, he slipped in front of the plate, unable to get the throw off. He grimaced, clutching his side, and finished the inning before being replaced by Mitch Garver in the ninth. “It was just a play on defense and it kind of was awkward for him,” Dan Wilson explained. “So as a precaution, we said, ‘Let’s get you out tonight.’”
Raleigh had missed three games earlier this month with soreness in the same area, returning as the designated hitter on May 5 and catching again by May 8. His struggles at the plate have been well documented—he entered Wednesday’s game hitting just .161 with a .560 OPS and seven home runs in 41 games. Only the night before, he’d snapped a career-worst 0-for-38 slump with a pair of singles, helping the Mariners to a rousing 10-2 win. But on Wednesday, he went 0-for-4 before his injury exit.
After the game, Wilson tried to remain optimistic, telling reporters, “He’s fine… It was just, again, kind of precautionary at this point, and we’ll know more tomorrow.” Still, the Mariners wasted little time prepping for the worst—Jhonny Pereda, the club’s No. 3 catcher, was pulled from a Triple-A game in Tacoma shortly after Raleigh’s exit and was expected to join the team in Houston for Thursday’s series finale.
The game itself was a rollercoaster. After losing their two-run lead, the Mariners clawed back in the top of the ninth. Rob Refsnyder and Mitch Garver drew back-to-back walks, and Crawford chopped an infield single to load the bases with two outs. Julio Rodríguez, down 1-2 in the count, worked a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at 3-3. The Mariners nearly took the lead on Josh Naylor’s swinging bunt, but a replay review showed he was out by a whisker at first.
Andrés Muñoz was electric in the bottom of the ninth, striking out the side with eight whiffs on ten swings, relying almost exclusively on his slider. But the Mariners couldn’t capitalize in extras, stranding two runners in the top of the tenth. In the bottom half, automatic runner Brice Matthews scored on Zach Cole’s single off rookie reliever Alex Hoppe, sealing the Astros’ walk-off win and snapping Seattle’s long streak of dominance in the matchup.
Should Raleigh require a stint on the injured list, Mitch Garver is expected to take over as Seattle’s primary catcher. The severity of Raleigh’s injury remained uncertain as of Thursday morning, but the Mariners’ depth at catcher will be tested as they look to rebound and keep pace in the AL West.
As the Mariners prepare for Thursday’s series finale, all eyes will be on the club’s medical updates. Can they rally around Miller’s promising return and weather the storm if Raleigh misses significant time? One thing’s for sure: the road ahead just got a lot more interesting for Seattle.