The LCS is nearly set, as the American League saw its final Division series wrap up last night and the National League will follow suit tonight. With just the Mariners and Tigers taking the stage on Friday, you would be forgiven for thinking we’d be due for a simple recap here. What we got instead was a 15-inning instant classic that went down to the wire.
American League Division Series Game 5
Mariners 3, Tigers 2 (15 innings)
(Seattle wins series 3-2)
Long before we were treated to a battle of the bullpens with elimination on the line,
we had a pitchers’ duel in Seattle. Tarik Skubal and George Kirby took the mound and traded zeroes, with both starters getting bested just once. Skubal’s blip came first, as a Josh Naylor double with one out in the second and a stolen base set up Mitch Garver to lift a sacrifice fly and get Seattle on the board. He dominated from there, however, striking out 13 Mariners across six innings and not allowing another baserunner to reach. At one point, he struck out seven straight Mariners including striking out the side in the third and fourth innings. He even ended his night with a strikeout of the MVP candidate Cal Raleigh, marking the most strikeouts in a do-or-die postseason game in MLB history. He was the definition of an ace in the regular season, and he lived up to the billing in the postseason.
Kirby, meanwhile, was matching Skubal despite having to play to more contact. He allowed a leadoff single to Kerry Carpenter, but sat each of the next eight Tigers until Carpenter singled with two outs in third, and then he struck out Gleyber Torres to end the frame. He did hit Colt Keith with a pitch in the fourth, but he got erased trying to steal second when Raleigh threw a laser right to the bag to get the out after video review. Kirby worked a 1-2-3 top of the fifth, but Javier Báez led off the sixth with a double prompting Dan Wilson to go to his ‘pen.
Gabe Speier was the first man out, but Carpenter was still red-hot and crushed a middle-middle fastball out for a two-run home run. Just like that, Detroit had the lead.
Now up a run, the Tigers could have kept riding their ace for a bit longer with Skubal at 99 pitches, knowing that he won’t be available later in the ALCS if they advanced. However, A.J. Hinch opted to go for a fresh arm and summoned Kyle Finnegan out of his bullpen for the seventh inning. It backfired, as Finnegan allowed a one-out walk and a two-out single to put runners on. Hinch went back to the ‘pen and got Tyler Holton after the Mariners called for a pinch-hitter, which they followed up by calling a different pinch-hitter after the pitching change. That meant that at the end of the sequence Leo Rivas was up at the plate making his postseason debut, and he came through with an RBI single to left field to tie the game at two.
The excitement was building, but the scoring would take a break as the defenses became the story of this game. The Tigers had a chance to take the lead back in the eighth inning after working a pair of walks off of Andrés Muñoz, but he got Riley Greene to pop up to third to end it. Then both sides were quiet in the ninth, bringing us to extra innings where Logan Gilbert became the first of several starters to enter as relievers. He worked a 1-2-3 top of the 10th, and then Troy Melton gave up a leadoff double to Victor Robles in the bottom half. Melton battled back though, getting a pop up and strikeout before intentionally walking Raleigh and getting Julio Rodríguez to ground out.
Carpenter remained relentless in getting on base with a single to lead off the 11th, and a passed ball put him at second, but Gilbert worked around it by intentionally walking Greene before getting Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith. The Mariners could do nothing with their half of the inning, so we were onto the 12th where Zach McKinstry and Dillon Dingler hit back-to-back singles to put runners on and chase Gilbert from the game. Eduard Bazardo was the next man up and the Tigers laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, but Báez hit a grounder to third that was made it easy for Eugenio Suárez to throw home and get the lead runner. The Mariners gave up the open first base to Carpenter with an intentional walk, and got Torres to fly out to right to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 12th, it was Seattle’s turn to get runners aboard. Rivas walked, and Robles was controversially given a hit-by-pitch call despite offering to bunt. Replay showed that the ball likely even hit the bat before hitting Robles, but the call wasn’t overturned — it didn’t end up mattering though as J.P. Crawford flew out and Randy Arozarena grounded one right to the pitcher for an easy 1-4-3 double play.
The Tigers were lifeless in the top of the 13th with Bazardo striking out the side, meaning the Mariners again needed one good shot to walk it off. Jack Flaherty entered the game for Detroit and promptly made a mess, walking Raleigh and Rodríguez before falling behind 2-0 to Jorge Polanco. Flaherty battled back to strike him out and then fell behind 3-1 to Suárez before inducing a 6-4-3 double play to escape back-to-back jams.
In the 14th, Luis Castillo started warming for Seattle, but they kept Bazardo out there and he allowed a one-out double to Dingler. Bazardo struck out Parker Meadows, but they opted to go to Castillo for the final out of the inning instead of letting the starter get a fresh inning and were rewarded with a soft pop out from Báez. There would be no third-consecutive rally disrupted in the bottom half, as Robles was the only baserunner and erased himself trying to steal second thanks to a dart from Dingler.
The Mariners finally retired Carpenter for the first time all night in the 15th, and the next two outs went in rapid succession. Old friend Tommy Kahnle was on for the bottom of the inning, and the Tigers were right back in trouble as Crawford singled to lead off and Arozarena was hit by a pitch. Raleigh lined out for the first out, but the runner did advance to third allowing the Tigers to intentionally walk Rodríguez loading the bases for Polanco. On a 3-2 count, Polanco flipped a single out to right field in front of Carpenter, starting the celebration at long last.
For the first time since 2001, the Mariners will play for the pennant. They’ll face Toronto in the ALCS, beginning on Sunday in the Rogers Centre.
