SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners bounced back in front of 47,371 fans at T-Mobile Park on Sunday night, tying the American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers at a game apiece after a 3-2 win. The series moves to Comerica Park, where Games 3 and 4 will be played Tuesday and Wednesday.
Luis Castillo pitched into the fifth inning, gutting through 85 pitches to give Seattle a chance before some late fireworks allowed the Mariners to tie the best-of-five series.
Jorge Polanco Solo Shot Gives M’s Early Lead
The Mariners, seemingly pressing during most of their at-bats, got a much-needed lift from Jorge Polanco. Re-signed after a disappointing, injury-riddled 2024, the Mariners brought him back to play third base. While that positional plan was discarded quickly, Polanco produced as a second baseman/designated hitter over the course of the season.
Polanco came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth to face reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. He took two balls before giving the Mariners their first lead of the game, hitting a 92 mph slider an estimated 392 feet over the wall in left-center for a 1-0 Mariners lead.
“He’s such a good baseball player,” Julio Rodriguez said. “He’s a grinder. All year long, he’s been having great at-bats, coming up clutch in so many situations.”
Jorge Polanco Goes Deep Again Off the Reigning Cy Young Winner
When you hit two home runs off Skubal, you get two keys to the game. This time, Skubal tried a full-count, 99-mph sinker on Polanco in the sixth inning. It caught the middle of the plate, a waist-high pitch that Polanco drove 362 feet to left for his second solo shot of the game for a 2-0 lead. It was the first multi-homer postseason game of Polanco’s career, and Skubal hadn’t allowed a player to hit two long balls against him in one game since Paul Goldschmidt got to him twice in 2021.
Polanco later gave the M’s runners at first-and-third in the eighth with a broken-bat single. He was lifted for pinch-runner Rivas to cap a 3-for-4 night.
“To have hit two homers against the best pitcher in the game — it’s awesome,” Rodriguez said. “There are not enough words to describe what he means to the team, and everything he has gone through this year.”
Speier Rescues M’s from Castillo Jam
Luis Castillo gave the Mariners what they needed, laboring through 4 2/3 scoreless innings, needing 51 pitches to get through two innings.
Wilson lifted La Piedra at 85 pitches after Gleyber Torres punched a ground ball through the right side. The first hit of the game allowed by Castillo put runners at the corners with outs. Speier, a lefty, entered to face Kerry Carpenter and struck out the left-handed hitter to preserve Seattle’s 1-0 edge.
Speier also pitched a clean sixth inning and finished with two strikeouts over 1 1/3 innings.
“This is playoff baseball, and he threw a lot of pitches [Saturday] night,” Wilson said. “But right back out there tonight, going one-plus, reaching down. And that’s where everybody’s at right now, reaching down and giving everything they got, and they leave it all out on the field.”
After a quick mound visit, Speier stayed in with two outs in the sixth to face pinch-hitter Wenceel Perez, a switch-hitter. Speir induced a pop-up to complete a 1-2-3 inning.
Naylor Error Gives Detroit Life
An eighth-inning error on Josh Naylor bit the Mariners temporarily. After Seattle reliever Matt Brash walked Torres, Riley Green hit a knuckling grounder to Naylor. The ball caromed off his glove and kicked over to Polanco. Torkelson then doubled down the left-field line to knot the score at 2-2.
Julio Rodriguez said the setback didn’t matter to the Mariners, who are “in it to win it.”
“There’s not really time to feel sorry about what happened or anything like that,” Rodriguez said. “Just stay in the moment … knowing that we have to hit. The game’s not over.”
Rodriguez Drives in Go-Head Run
Cal Raleigh greeted Tigers reliever Kyle Finnegan with a first-pitch double to right field to lead off the eighth. Rodriguez took a ball that just missed on the upper-outside corner, then hit a line drive double to left field to score Raleigh.
Rodriguez was cut down, though, trying to score from third on Eugenio Suarez’s sharp ground ball hit to Detroit third baseman Zach McKinstry. Rodriguez has come up big in two games so far in the postseason, going 4-for-9 with three of the Mariners’ five RBI.
Asked if he likes that people are now calling him a clutch hitter, Julio said he was just happy to help the team win.
“I feel like in games like this, any situation is clutch,” he said. “You can win a game in the first few innings of the game, the middle of the game, or late in the game — because every single run matters.”
This story originally appeared at emeraldcityspectrum.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
