Mariners-Astros GameCenter: Live updates, highlights, how to watch, stream Game 2 of ALDS

HOUSTON — Despite it being almost impossible to avoid on any form of social media, and the replays being shown constantly on MLB Network and ESPN over the past 24 hours, manager Scott Servais hasn’t watched or dissected the video of Yordan Alvarez sending a sinker from Robbie Ray into orbit for a three-run walkoff homer in the Astros’ stunning 8-7 victory Tuesday in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

Realistically, the pitch, the swing and the result are probably embedded into a near-constant loop in his memory, even if he says he’s moving forward.

On Wednesday afternoon at an empty Minute Maid Park, Servais had to relive the moment that may be impossible to forget, depending on the series outcome, and answer a question on the thought process that led to it.

Over the past 24 hours, the criticism of bringing in Ray, who was rocked three days earlier in Toronto and has been roughed up by Houston all season, to face Alvarez — one of the best hitters in baseball — has been palpable if not incessant.

In the immediate aftermath of the loss, Servais said the team had decided to leave Ray out of the starting rotation, but possibly use him in situations where Alvarez or Kyle Tucker, the other lefty slugger in Houston’s lineup, might come to the plate.

But what went into a plan to think Ray was the best option?

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HOUSTON — The Mariners made dark history Tuesday, and that’s an ominous development, indeed.

The two-out home run by Houston’s Yordan Alvarez was the most impactful, game-changing at-bat in MLB postseason history. That might sound like hyperbole, but Kirk Gibson’s epic home run for the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series was the only other one to end a postseason game with two outs and his team trailing.

Dating to the first World Series in 1903, no one had done so in the postseason with their team trailing by more than one run. No one had changed his team’s Win Probability more — from 91% for the Mariners, according to Statcast, before Alvarez’s at-bat to 100% for the Astros afterward.

Here’s the most ominous part: No matter how much of a sunshine spin the Mariners were putting forth Tuesday night and again Wednesday, modern baseball history reveals something else. Once teams are hit in the solar plexus with a loss as sudden and devastating as Tuesday’s — and they’re rare — it’s really, really hard to bounce back.

The Mariners, mind you, believe they have the team and the mindset to defy human nature and do just that.

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HOUSTON — If Luis Castillo thought his start in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series was the biggest of his career, well, a new bar is about to be set.

When the Mariners’ new ace takes the mound Thursday afternoon at Minute Maid Park, he will be tasked with trying to slow down a potent Astros lineup, help the Mariners even the American League Division Series and rescue the wounded psyche of a team and a fanbase.

No pressure, kid.

For all the reasons the Mariners acquired Castillo at the trade deadline, the start vs. the Astros is No. 1. Among the many responsibilities of an ace, the task of stopping a downward spiral, no matter the length, is paramount.

“It doesn’t matter what team you are in the MLB, I’m going to come in and just kind of do my best that I can do,” Castillo said through interpreter Freddy Llanos.

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