With Three Homers and a Late Rally Survived, the Mariners Best the Tigers in ALDS Game 3

Water falling from the skies over Comerica Park delayed the start of a pivotal ALDS Game 3 between the Tigers and the Mariners by close to three hours. Once things dried out, Seattle’s batters rained on Detroit’s parade. Eugenio Suárez, J.P. Crawford, and Cal Raleigh all homered, and that was more than enough to support the pitching of Logan Gilbert and four Mariners relievers. When all was said and done, Seattle had an 8-4 win and a 2-1 edge in the best-of-five series.

The game started with a successful challenge. Randy Arozarena was initially ruled safe after Gleyber Torres threw to first to field a comebacker that glanced off of Jack Flaherty’s glove, but replay review reversed the call. Seattle’s leadoff hitter was out by an eyelash. A few swings later, Detroit’s starter had retired the side on just eight pitches. It was to be his only easy inning.

The Mariners made the right-hander work in the second. Josh Naylor had an 11-pitch at-bat, finally grounding out on Flaherty’s first changeup of the evening. Three other batters saw six pitches apiece. Suárez walked, Jorge Polanco and Dominic Canzone fanned, and Flaherty walked off the mound having thrown 29 in the frame, and 37 overall. It was apparent early that the Tigers bullpen would be well-worked by game’s end.

A Dillon Dingler single gave Detroit a runner in the bottom half, but as had happened in the first, Gilbert ended the mini-threat with a strikeout, leaving a Tiger stranded. Never really in trouble over the course of his outing, the tall right-hander nonetheless squelched every semblance of a Detroit rally.

Victor Robles gave the visitors a more serious threat to start the third. Seattle’s eight-hole hitter doubled down the left field line, with the contest’s second video replay challenge quickly following. Crawford lofted a single to left, with Robles stopping at third… only to have the throw to the infield get away from Dingler, allowing him to scoot home. This time, the eyelash went Seattle’s way. Riley Greene was charged with the error, and the Mariners had a 1-0 lead.

Two pitches later it was 2-0. Arozarena swatted a slider for a single that scored Crawford, bringing up Raleigh, who walked. With Julio Rodríguez settling into the batter’s box, Seattle was seemingly on the verge of forging a formidable lead. Flaherty was on the ropes.

Somehow he survived. Rodríguez swung through a 3-1 heater, then did the home side a favor by chasing a breaking ball well off the plate. One out. Polanco — he of the two home runs off of Tarik Skubal in Game 2 — proceeded to fan on a curveball. Two out. Naylor then launched a ball 394 feet, but fortunately for Flaherty, it was to a pitcher-friendly part of the park. Parker Meadows corralled the long fly, keeping Detroit’s deficit to a mere two runs.

But not for long. After the Tigers stranded a baserunner for the third straight frame, Suárez led off the fourth by hammering a heater deep into the Detroit night. When it landed, 422 feet from home plate, Seattle led 3-0. Two walks and a Raleigh RBI single later — Flaherty had been lifted for Tommy Kahnle by the time Big Dumper stepped into the box — it was 4-0. If not for a sliding catch by Greene on a ball hit by Rodríguez, it would have been even worse for the Tabbies. Given their offensive doldrums over the past three-plus weeks, it was already a steep hill to climb.

They did their best to do so in the fifth inning, although they ultimately crossed the plate just once. Dingler was hit by a pitch, and after Meadows bunted for a hit only to be thrown out on a nice play by Suárez, Javier Báez dumped a single into right to put runners on the corners. A Mariners’ miscue then resulted in a Tigers tally. Gilbert induced what would have been a double-play ball, but Kerry Carpenter was safe at first when Naylor couldn’t scoop a poor throw from Crawford. An inning-ending ground out followed, with the Tigers settling for just the one run.

The Mariners offense wasn’t done. Turning a three-run edge back into four, Crawford took Brant Hurter yard to make it 5-1 in the sixth. It was the shortstop’s second hit of the game, and his third time on base in as many plate appearances. He would later hit a sacrifice fly.

Gilbert’s effort was impressive. Lifted after six innings, Seattle’s starter allowed just four hits and one run, with no walks and seven strikeouts. He was slider-heavy throughout, throwing his best breaker 37 times out of 85 pitches. Augmenting the offering were 24 four-seamers, 20 splitters, and six curveballs. Making his second career postseason start –his first was in the 2022 ALDS against Houston — he was stellar from his first pitch to his last.

With a strong bullpen and a four-run lead, the Mariners were nine outs away from a 2-1 lead in the series when Matt Brash strolled in from the ‘pen to work the seventh. He got each of Zach McKinstry, Dingler and Meadows to ground out.

Eighth-inning ineptitude helped put things further out of reach for the Tigers. Luke Raley reached on a one-out hit by pitch, then went to third when Carpenter had a Robles fly ball pop out of his glove for an error. Greene proceeded to corral a fly ball from Crawford, but it was deep enough to score Seattle’s sixth run. An inning later, the Mariners had eight. Raleigh went deep in the top of the ninth, giving Seattle a lead that was seemingly quite safe. At 8-1, there was little left to do but close out Detroit in what had trended toward a ho-hum ninth.

That didn’t happen. Putting a scare into the Mariners, the Tigers began their last gasp with a Jake Rogers single. Then came a walk, followed by a two-run double by Spencer Torkelson and a run-scoring single by Andy Ibáñez. Five batters in, the score was suddenly 8-4 and Seattle manager Dan Wilson was forced to lift Caleb Ferguson and go his closer. Andrés Muñoz was able to shut the door, but only with a bit of good fortune at the end. After Dingler flew out, Meadows roped a .560 xBA line drive directly into the glove of Naylor, who proceeded to step on first to double up Ibáñez to end the game.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow at a time yet to be determined — good weather is forecast — with the Tigers needing a win to extend the series. If the Mariners prevail, they will advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2001. Detroit’s last ALCS appearance came in 2013.