Ty France's single scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the host Seattle Mariners rallied to defeat the short-handed Houston Astros 6-5 Friday night in the opener of a three-game series.

Seattle's Evan White hit a solo homer in the eighth to tie the score at 5-5.

Mariners left-hander Anthony Misiewicz (2-0) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the victory. Houston right-hander Ryne Stanek (0-1) took the loss.

Stanek opened the bottom of the ninth by walking J.P. Crawford and Mitch Haniger on nine pitches. Right-hander Ryan Pressly was brought on, but France lined a 1-1 pitch into the gap in right-center field.

The Astros were without Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Martin Maldonado and Robel Garcia, who landed on the injured list Wednesday due to COVID-19 protocols.

After being held hitless by Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi for the first four innings, the Astros struck for three runs in the fifth.

With one out, Carlos Correa lined a single to center and Taylor Jones walked. Alex De Goti, making his major league debut, hit a run-scoring single to right, with Jones scoring on outfielder Dylan Moore's throwing error. Chas McCormick lined a double to left to make it 3-0.

The Mariners got on the board in the sixth. Haniger led off by hitting a grounder off the glove of right-hander Jose Urquidy, with the ball ending up in right field. A wild pitch advanced Haniger to second, and he stopped at third on France's double to left. Kyle Seager then lined a two-run double to right to make it 3-2.

Urquidy got two more outs before lefty Brooks Raley came on to strike out Taylor Trammell to end the inning.

Urquidy went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Kikuchi was left in after loading the bases in the seventh, and he gave up a two-run single to left by Aledmys Diaz to make it 5-2.

Kikuchi went seven innings, yielding five runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

The Mariners scored two runs of their own in the seventh to pull within 5-4. Haniger had a run-scoring single and France added a sacrifice fly.

De Goti led the Astros with two hits and two runs. For the Mariners, Haniger finished 3-for-4, while France and White contributed two hits apiece.

--Field Level Media