After a thrilling extra-innings win in Game One of the ALDS, the Tigers were riding a high going into Game Two in Seattle, hoping to continue their performance so they could hopefully head back to Detroit on Tuesday with the potential to celebrate a win at home. But before we get ahead of ourselves, the Tigers need to get through this game. They had Tarik Skubal on the mound, which was always a good thing, up against Luis Castillo. Both teams struggled with run support in Saturday’s game, and both
had to go deep into their bullpen, so the Mariners and Tigers were hoping to get the longest game possible out of their starters tonight.
In the top of the first, Kerry Carpenter continued to be reliable in getting on base with a one-out walk. Two outs followed his free base, though, so it seems likely we’ll be seeing some consistency in leaving runners on base. Randy Arozarena singled to start the home half, but Skubal quickly settled in and got the next three outs in order, even though Arozarena did sneak in a stolen base.
Colt Keith took a leadoff walk to start the second. Then, with one out, last night’s hero Zach McKinstry walked to get to men aboard. A Javier Baez groundout advanced both runners into scoring position. Castillo got the final out of the inning, but he was already 51 pitches into the game, so the Tigers were doing good work in wearing him out early. Skubal plowed through the Mariners in order in the home half.
In the third, Castillo balanced out the first two innings but getting the Tigers out in only 9 pitches. In the bottom of the inning, Victor Robles got a leadoff walk. There was a bit of a pause during J.P. Crawford’s at-bat as a foul ball missiled into the Tigers’ dugout and evidently got a piece of Chris Paddack, though Paddack smiled and shook it off. Skubal got the next three outs to end the inning.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth. In the home half, Skubal ran into his first real roadblock of the game. With one out, Jorge Polanco hit a massive solo home run, putting the Mariners on the board first. Skubal pulled it all back together and got through the next two batters without issue, but the Tigers were going to need to get him some run support.
Javier Baez got a one-out walk in the fifth, he was soon eliminated in a force out off the bat of Parker Meadows. A Gleyber Torres single bumped Meadows to third, and with men on the corners and two outs, that was it for Castillo, giving way to Gabe Speier to face Kerry Carpenter. Speier did precisely what the Mariners needed him to, but on the plus side, the Mariners were now into their bullpen. In the home half, the first out was collected with a truly wonderful catch by Carpenter. After the second out, J.P. Crawford singled on an ugly little hopper to Torres that never had a chance to get to first. But the final out of the inning left him stranded.
In the sixth, the Tigers went down in order, even though A.J. Hinch pinch-hit Wenceel Perez for Colt Keith, hoping to take advantage of Perez’s improved numbers against lefties. With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Jorge Polanco somehow managed to make lightning strike twice, as he hit another solo homer, this time out to left field. The score was 2-0, and it was all because of Polanco. Skubal got the final out, but in such a low-scoring postseason, the Tigers had an uphill battle ahead.
Eduard Bazardo came in for the seventh, and with two outs the Tigers finally managed to get their second hit of the game, this one by Javier Baez. A pop-out by Meadows ended the inning scoreless, though. Skubal was back to work in the home half. With one out, Mitch Garver singled down the center line. Luke Raley came on to pinch-run. With some help from his infield, Skubal got out of the seventh without any additional runs scoring. That was the end of the night for Skubal, with a final line of 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 2 HR on 97 pitches.
Matt Brash was the new Mariners’ pitcher in the eighth, and he gave up a leadoff walk to Gleyber Torres. Riley Greene reached on a fielder’s choice, which left everyone safe thanks to a fielding error by Josh Naylor, who just seemed to lose track of the ball. Greene was really slow-jogging to first with the assumption it would be an out and had to haul it to get there, but it left two on with only one out. Spencer Torkelson then doubled right down the right field line and scored Torres and then Greene from first (Joey Cora might have to ice his arm tonight, he was waving home so hard.) The next two bats bore no fruit, but the game was tied.
Kyle Finnegan came on for the Tigers in the eighth. With one out, Cal Raleigh doubled. Then, a Rodriguez double brought Raleigh home and put the Mariners back in the lead. Polanco singled, moving Rodriguez to third. There was simply no play in the infield where it was placed between second and third. Eugenio Suarez hit into a fielder’s choice where the Tigers blocked the run at home, but put two runners on still. That was it for Finnegan. Brant Hurter came in to replace him with two outs. He got the final out of the inning, but the damage was done.
Andrés Muñoz came in for the ninth and got three outs in a row to help the Mariners claim their first postseason victory in almost a quarter-century. They’d head to Detroit with the series tied 1-1.
