Water falling from the sky over Comerica Park delayed the start of a crucial ALDS Game 3 between the Tigers and Mariners by nearly three hours. Once things dried up, Seattle’s batter rained on Detroit’s parade. Eugenio Suarez, J.P. CrawfordAnd Cal Raleigh all homered, which was more than enough to support the pitching Logan Gilbert and four Mariners relievers. In the end, Seattle had an 8-4 victory and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
The game started with a successful challenge. Randy Arozarena was initially declared safe Gleyber Torres threw to first base to set up a comebacker who looked away Jack Flaherty’s glove, but replay review overturned the call. Seattle’s leadoff hitter was knocked out by an eyelash. A few swings later, Detroit’s starter had retired the side on just eight pitches. It would be his only easy inning.
The Mariners made the right-hander work in the second. Josh Naylor had an 11-pitch at-bat and eventually grounded out after Flaherty’s first changeup of the night. Three other batters each saw six pitches. Suarez ran, Jorge Polanco And Dominic Song blew out, and Flaherty walked off the mound after throwing 29 in the frame and 37 overall. It was clear early on that the Tigers’ bullpen would work well at the end of the game.
A Dillon dangles a single gave Detroit a runner in the bottom half, but as in the first inning, Gilbert ended the mini-threat with a strikeout, leaving a Tiger behind. The tall right-hander never really got into trouble during his outing, but nonetheless suppressed any semblance of a rally in Detroit.
Victor Robles gave the visitors a more serious threat to start the third. Seattle’s eight-hole hitter doubled down the left field line, and the game’s second video replay challenge quickly followed. Crawford singled to left, while Robles stopped at third… only for the throw to the infield to escape Dingler, allowing him to run home. This time the eyelash went Seattle’s way. Riley Greene was charged with the foul and the Mariners had a 1–0 lead.
Two pitches later it was 2-0. Arozarena hit a slider for a single that scored Crawford, setting up Raleigh, who walked. Of Julio Rodriguez Seattle settled into the batter’s box and was seemingly on the verge of forging a formidable lead. Flaherty was on the ropes.
Somehow he survived. Rodríguez blazed through a 3-1 heat, then did the home team a favor by chasing a breaking ball far from the plate. One out. Polanco – he of the two home runs away Pull Skubal in Game 2 – proceeded to hit a curveball. Two outs. Naylor then launched a ball from 110 yards, but luckily for Flaherty it was in a pitcher-friendly part of the park. Parker Meadows sparked the long run and kept Detroit’s deficit to just 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, 450 feet from home plate, Seattle was up 3-0. Two walks and a Raleigh RBI single later – Flaherty was lifted Tommy Kahnle by the time Big Dumper stepped into the box it was 4-0. If not for a sliding catch from Greene on a ball hit by Rodríguez, things would have been even worse for the Tabbies. Considering 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 in the end they only crossed the plate once. Dingler was hit by a pitch, and after Meadows bunted for a hit but was thrown out after a fine play by Suárez, Javier Baez threw a single to right, putting runners on the corners. A Mariners error then resulted in a Tigers tally. Gilbert caused what would have been a double play ball, but Kerry Carpenter was initially safe when Naylor couldn’t score a bad throw from Crawford. An inning-ending ground-out followed, after which the Tigers settled for just one run.
The Mariners offense wasn’t done. Crawford cut a three-point lead to four and took the lead Brant Hurter yard to make it 5-1 in the sixth. It was the short stop’s second hit of the game and his third time on base in as many at bats. 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. The range was expanded with 24 four-seamers, 20 splitters and six curveballs. In his second career postseason start — his first was in the 2022 ALDS against Houston — he was great 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 series lead when Matt Brash walked from the ‘pen to the seventh work. He got every one of them Zach McKinstryDingler and Meadows grounded out.
The ineptitude in the eighth inning pushed things further out of reach for the Tigers. Lucas Raley reached base on a hit pitch with one out, then moved to third base when Carpenter let Robles fly out of his glove because of an error. Greene proceeded to collect 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 choice but to shut down Detroit in what was trending toward a ho-hum ninth.
That didn’t happen. The Tigers gave the Mariners a scare, starting their last-gasp run with a Jake Rogers single. Then came a walk, followed by a two-run double from Spencer Torkelson and a runscoring single by Andy Ibanez. Five batters in, the score was suddenly 8-4 and Seattle manager Then Wilson was forced to lift Caleb Ferguson and go closer. Andrés Munoz could close the door, but only with a little luck at the end. After Dingler flew out, Meadows roped a .560 xBA line drive straight into the glove of Naylor, who stepped up first to double-double Ibáñez to end the game.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow at a time to be determined – good weather is forecast – with the Tigers needing a win to extend the series. If the Mariners win, they will advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2001. Detroit’s last ALCS appearance was in 2013.
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