Seattle Mariners at Houston Astros

The ball jumped off Christian Walker’s bat like a rocket, sparking the kind of wild on-field celebration the Astros hope they get to experience a lot more of in the season’s final six weeks and beyond. Players poured out of the dugout, fireworks exploded overhead and everyone at Daikin Park tried to take stock of what they had just witnessed. That included the Mariners, who scored five unanswered runs, including two in the top of the 10th inning to take the lead, but were left on the wrong end of a crusher. And that included the Astros, who were down to their last strike twice against Seattle closer Andrés Muñoz and somehow found a way. Walker blasted a three-run, walk-off homer in the 10th inning Friday night to send the Astros to a dramatic 10-7 win over the Mariners, pushing first-place Houston to a season-high three-game lead in the American League West over the Rangers, dropping Seattle six games back. “It’s fun to do it and great to come through, but looking at the dugout and seeing everybody go crazy… that is one of the best closers in the game,” Walker said. “So to be able to tie it and then force more baseball, and then obviously take the lead, is great. That’s something to be proud of and I think that will give us some momentum.” The Astros blew a 5-2 lead, watching the Mariners score twice in the eighth to tie the game and twice more in the 10th off Bryan Abreu to take a 7-5 lead. Things looked bleak in the 10th when slugger Yordan Alvarez -- who broke his 13-game homerless drought with his 36th of the season in the first inning -- made the first out, but the Astros put together a string of great at-bats off Muñoz. “Those at-bats in the 10th against Muñoz \[were\