Yordan Alvarez Revealed His Secret To Being Perfectly Prepared To Hit Walk-Off HR Against Mariners

There has certainly been no shortage of drama so far during this year’s Major League Baseball playoff games. From the Phillies’ unlikely 9th inning comeback win versus the Cardinals to the unfathomable win by the Mariners over the Blue Jays after being down 8-1, the unexpected is quickly becoming the norm.

Another example of that type of drama occurred on Tuesday when the Houston Astros took on the Seattle Mariners in game on of their American League Division Series.

For most of the game, the Miracle Mariners appeared to be on their way to their third playoff win in a row.

Seattle jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. The Mariners were still up 6-2 in the fourth inning, and 7-3 in seventh inning.

In the eighth inning, Houston third baseman Alex Bregman hit a two-run homer to close the gap to 7-5.

Then, with just one out to go for the win in the ninth, Seattle manager Scott Servais decided to replace reliever Paul Sewald with starting pitcher Robbie Ray.

The idea there was that Ray, being a lefty, would have a better chance to get the final out against left-handed batter Yordan Alvarez.

Big mistake. Two pitches later the game was over.

Yordan Alvarez explained how he was perfectly prepared to face Robbie Ray with the game on the line

After the game, Alvarez revealed that not only did he anticipate that he would be batting against Robbie Ray, he even took the time to watch video of the 2021 AL Cy Young Award winner before his at-bat.

“As soon as I saw him warming up, I knew that he was going to come into the game if it came down to me,” Alvarez said. “And as soon as I saw that, I grabbed the iPad, saw our previous encounters, and just went out there.”

For numerous reasons, Mariners fans (and many other baseball fans) questioned the decision of Seattle’s manager following the game.

• Alvarez hit 10 home runs with 33 runs batted in 192 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers this year (with a OPS of .998).

• It was just the second time that Robbie Ray has pitched in relief since 2014.

• In the regular season, in three starts against the Astros, Ray allowed 23 hits and 13 earned runs in 10.2 innings.

• Ray was also just three days removed from starting game two of the ALDS – a game in which he lasted just three innings and gave up four earned runs and two homers.

With all of that working against him, it is little surprise that Robbie Ray failed in that key situation versus Alvarez on Tuesday.