On a night the Mariners needed to be unbelievable, Luis Castillo was nearly untouchable.
‘The Rock’ chose a picture-perfect Seattle evening to be as solid and unyielding as his longtime nickname suggests. The city’s postseason hopes hung in the balance with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal looming in the visitor’s dugout, but Castillo rose to the occasion — retiring as many as nine consecutive Detroit hitters, touching 97 miles per hour with his four-seamer and generating 13 whiffs that recharged the energy from a sellout crowd.
Skubal posted seven strong innings, but Jorge Polanco launched two solo home runs and Julio Rodriguez delivered a go-ahead, RBI double in the eighth — the catalysts for an all-important, 3-2 win over Detroit in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
They’ve waited 24 years for this moment, packing every seat at T-Mobile Park despite the heartbreak of an 11-inning loss mere hours before. This crowd of 47,371 offered more than screams in a sea of rally towels. They’ve begged for exactly this — a postseason win in Seattle for the first time since 2001.
In what felt as close to a must-win game as possible without actual elimination at stake, the Mariners delivered against one of the best pitchers on the planet.
“The fans have been phenomenal,” Castillo said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “I think it’s been since ‘01 that they haven’t been able to see a (playoff) win here at the house. These great fans really deserve the win. They bring the energy every single time.
“It was special.”
Series evened, moment seized: The Mariners have tied this best-of-five series at one before it continues at Comerica Park in Detroit for Games 3 and 4 this week.
“I feel like (postseason baseball) is the best baseball you can play,” Rodriguez said, smiling at the podium inside T-Mobile Park’s Main Interview Room. “And it’s fun. Everybody’s so engaged in the game. The fans, the team, it was awesome.
“These are things that I dreamed of as a kid. I remember just watching the game, and to be here playing baseball for this team, it’s really awesome.”
Detroit rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the eighth inning when Spencer Torkelson poked an opposite-field, two-run double down the right field line that scored Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene. Torres worked a leadoff walk against Seattle reliever Matt Brash before Greene reached on first baseman Josh Naylor’s fielding error, opening the door.
That lead proved short-lived, thanks to The J-Rod Show. Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh ripped a one-out double to the right-field wall in the home eighth off Detroit’s Kyle Finnegan, trading places with Rodriguez at second after Rodriguez followed with an RBI double down the left-field line. T-Mobile Park rocked.
Torkelson deflated the noise only minutes before, but it was Seattle’s franchise cornerstones that stole the momentum back, just like they had all year. Who else would come through in the biggest at-bats of the season?
“It was huge,” Rodriguez said of a monumental double that became the game-winner. “After I hit it, I kind of looked around a little bit. I could see everybody jumping around. That made me feel really good.
“It was an awesome moment. But more importantly, to come and answer back as a team… I feel like Cal got it going right there, and I was really happy to be able to follow through on that, grab the lead again, and set the table for (closer Andres Munoz) to do his job.”
Munoz lived up to his “Senor Smoke” moniker, retiring Detroit’s ninth inning in order to slam the door.
Polanco became the fourth player in Mariners history to record a two-homer game in the postseason, joining Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Jay Buhner — all of whom completed the feat in 1995.
The co-pilot of Seattle’s 10-game win streak throughout September with a flurry of extra-base hits, Polanco gave the home fans an encore in Sunday’s fourth inning. Working ahead of Skubal, he found a 2-0 slider over the heart and punished a line-drive solo home run into the Seattle bullpen, snapping a scoreless tie.
In the sixth, Polanco located Skubal’s payoff pitch over the middle, a 99-mph sinker he golfed to left field for a majestic blast into Edgar’s Cantina.
“I came up there just trying to get a good pitch to hit, just hit to the middle of the field and put it straight on,” Polanco said.
Skubal was the American League’s unanimous Cy Young Award and Pitching Triple Crown winner in 2024, the league’s leader in wins (18), ERA (2.39), and strikeouts (228). He was even better in ‘25, posting career-highs with a 2.21 ERA and 241 strikeouts before his dominant, 14-strikeout performance over Cleveland in Game 1 of last week’s AL Wild Card series.
But Polanco refused another left-handed pitching spectacle.
“(Jorge) is such a good baseball player,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a grinder. All year long, he’s been having great at-bats and coming clutch in so many situations. Today, to hit two homers against the best pitcher in the game right now, is awesome. There’s not enough words to describe what he means to the team.
“I’m really happy he’s our teammate.”
Without supreme command, Castillo remained excellent. He retired nine consecutive Tigers in between 4 ⅔ shutout innings, surrendering one hit and three walks with no runs and three strikeouts. Torres notched Detroit’s first hit through the right infield with two outs in the fifth, marking the end of Castillo’s night. A standing ovation was rightfully deserved.
“What The Rock did for us on the mound… tremendous job getting us to where we needed to get,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “I thought he really settled in. … Good fastball, using his secondaries extremely well like we have seen, getting the punchout.
“(Luis) has been in those moments. And when you get back in those moments and the adrenaline starts flowing the way it was, I think he was not going to be denied tonight.”
Torres’ ground-ball single put runners on the corners with two outs in the fifth inning, prompting Wilson to call upon left-handed reliever Gabe Speier to face Kerry Carpenter. And though Detroit’s right fielder broke Seattle’s hearts with a go-ahead, two-run home run in Game 1, there would be no such rerun.
Skubal went seven innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs, both via solo home runs by Polanco. He walked one and struck out nine.
Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert takes the mound in Detroit for a pivotal Game 3 on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 1:08 p.m. PDT.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
