Only two Mariners’ batters recorded a hit as they fell behind in the ALDS.
A weak grounder through the infield in the top of the 11th spelled the end for the Mariners in a 3-2 loss on Saturday. But it was
a missing performance from the lineup that sank their first game of the 2025 postseason.
The Mariners couldn’t manage a base runner in six of 11 innings against the Tigers’ pre-scheduled bullpen day. Julio Rodríguez had three hits. Cal Raleigh had three hits. Randy Arozarena and Josh Naylor each walked. But the bottom five spots in the lineup did not reach base while wracking up six strikeouts. Many innings were impossibly fast: the Mariners saw 10 pitches or fewer in four separate innings and just 139 pitches all night.
The approach on offense was “maybe just getting a little too big,” Raleigh said postgame.
“I think it’s important this time of year when the adrenaline goes up and the heart starts pounding, you just gotta slow the game down. Slow it down and do what we’ve talked about since spring training: stay to the middle, easy swings, throttle down, don’t try to get bigger. I expect the guys to make a good adjustment tomorrow. We’ve been doing it the whole year, and I think it’ll be a good challenge.”
T-Mobile Park was packed with a sellout crowd of 47,290. They stood early, they stood often, and they roared when Julio Rodríguez got the Mariners on the board first with a leadoff home run in the fourth.
But there was less to celebrate as a cascade of relievers shut down the Mariners’ lineup over the next seven innings. They really only threatened once. In the sixth, Arozarena leadoff with a walk. Raleigh followed with a single to move him to third. And Julio came through with another single for his second RBI of the night to tie the game at 2-2.
The Tigers switched pitchers with two on and nobody out. Josh Naylor grounded into a double play, and Jorge Polanco lined out. The threat was over, and so was the Mariners night. They managed only two more base runners the rest of the way. Cal singled with two outs in the eighth, before Julio struck out to end the inning. Julio singled with two outs in the 11th, before Naylor grounded out to end the game.
To their credit, the Mariners hit the ball hard and a few fly balls nearly snuck over the fence or dropped in the gaps. They went just 3-for-13 on balls hit harder than 95 mph. T-Mobile Park is a notoriously tough environment, especially in the fall when cold temperatures and a specific tailwind conspire against offense. But whatever the reason, it ultimately wasn’t enough.
George Kirby got the start for the Mariners. He was both untouchable and frequently in trouble. He struck out the side in the top of the first. He let two reach in the second before working out of it with a pair of strikeouts. He gave up a leadoff double in the third, then escaped again. He pitched a clean fourth with two more strikeouts.
He finished the day with eight strikeouts in five innings and 16 whiffs. He pounded the top rail with fastballs, expanding the zone higher and higher, and compelling the Tigers to swing at their eyes (and convincing the ump to give him a few high strikes as well).
But the Tigers eventually caught on. With one on and two outs in the fifth, Kerry Carpenter stepped to the plate. Kirby got ahead and threw a fastball well above the zone, and Carpenter torched it 112.5 mph and 409 feet to right-center field. The Tigers took a 2-1 lead. It was Carpenter’s fifth hit off Kirby in his career and his fifth homer.
Kirby was clear in his last inning, and with preeminent lefty Gabe Speier warmed in the pen, Dan Wilson had a choice to make. He chose Kirby.
“It’s a tough one,” Wilson said of the decision. “You do the best you can and try to take the information that you have and what you’re seeing. And we thought George continued to throw the ball pretty well there and still had pretty good stuff and a lot left in the tank, and he had been in a couple of tough spots earlier, but really pitched out of it well.
Hinch told reporters he planned to pinch hit with Jahmai Jones had Wilson gone to Speier. Jones posted a 167 wRC+ against lefties this year; Carpenter posted a 122 wRC+ against righties.
Kirby said his approach to Carpenter was the right one.
“The heaters up were working all day, and he finally got to one. So, tip your cap. I executed it the way I wanted to. I’m not going to go back and forth in my head about whether it was the right pitch or not. I threw it, I was convicted in it, and he hit a homer.”
The Mariners bullpen after Kirby was exceptional. They didn’t allow a hit over the next five innings, with stray walks in the sixth and eighth the only base runners allowed. Andrés Muñoz was especially dominant, picking up two strikeouts in two perfect innings in the ninth and 10th.
That got the ball to Carlos Vargas in the 11th with the game tied 2-2. He began the inning with a leadoff walk and a wild pitch to put a runner on second with nobody out. He nearly got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts, but Zach McKinstry hit a weak grounder past a diving J.P. Crawford and into centerfield, giving the Tigers a final 3-2 lead.
It’s a tough loss for the Mariners. Saturday was their best odds to win of any game in the ALDS, according to Fangraphs. Not only do they fall behind 1-0 in the best-of-five series, they missed an opportunity to get the Tigers’ bullpen off their schedule. They’ll face the defending (and soon to be back-to-back) AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal on Sunday. They’ve beat Skubal twice this season.
“Today is over,” Julio said postgame. “Gear up for tomorrow, get ready for the new game, and come with the same mentality, come attack and be ready to compete. That’s how we bounce back from this, that’s how we’ve done it in the past.
“We’re going to be in good shape tomorrow.”
