SEATTLE — The Tigers have been on the road for nearly two weeks. They are bringing a new meaning to the nickname Gritty Tigs.
“Everybody’s coming in trying to get laundry done,” reliever Tommy Kahnle said after the Tigers’ 3-2 win in 11 innings over the Mariners to open their AL Division Series on Saturday night. “Guys are running out of underwear. We’re running out of socks. It’s been interesting. And we’re all just riding it, enjoying the moment.”
They are running short on clean clothes. They are not running short on fortitude.
Here they were, the Tigers’ traveling road show, their gear and clothes in various states of wear, having to bear the brunt of the noise from a sellout crowd of 47,290 that echoed through T-Mobile Park from Troy Melton’s first pitch to Keider Montero’s last. They had just weathered the hostile crowd in Cleveland for three games. This was another level.
“This atmosphere is unbelievable,” reliever Tyler Holton said. “I haven’t quite seen an atmosphere like this, just from every pitch, being loud. Whether they were pitching or hitting, it didn’t matter. It was pretty awesome to see and experience. But this is playoff baseball. This is what you want.”
The only feeling better than hearing the sheer noise of this crowd at T-Mobile Park was silencing it.
“Silencing a crowd, there’s probably no better feeling,” said first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who scored the go-ahead run on Zach McKinstry’s two-out single through the middle in the 11th inning. “It’s a special feeling, especially because it’s not easy when the crowd’s insanely loud. So when it’s quiet, it’s like, ‘Whew.’ You can think.”
When Torkelson fielded Josh Naylor’s ground ball and stepped on the bag for the final out, sending the crowd out the gates, he could finally think about what the win meant.
The Tigers weathered the frenetic energy of the Mariners’ postseason opener, the electric fastball of George Kirby and the formidable arms of the Seattle bullpen. And after Saturday’s victory, they have a chance to ride the mighty left arm of Tarik Skubal and take a commanding lead in the best-of-five series back to Comerica Park, where they haven’t played a game since Sept. 21.
In Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams to win Game 1 on the road have advanced 34 of 46 times (73.9%).
“It’s huge,” outfielder Kerry Carpenter said. “To get a win before the best pitcher in the world pitches is pretty special, and I feel like Skubal is made for these moments. So he’s going to be at his best. And that’s a heck of a lineup over there. So they’re going to be at their best, too.
“But to have the opportunity to go 2-0 here, we’re really confident in our guy because we should be because he’s the only one with back-to-back Cy Youngs. So it’s pretty special.”
That last homestand ended with the Tigers still in control of their postseason chances, but doubt creeping in. They saw the Guardians pass them for the AL Central title, watched the Red Sox walk them off to clinch a playoff spot, celebrated their own postseason berth in the cramped visitor’s clubhouse at Fenway Park and then celebrated a Wild Card Series win in the visitor’s clubhouse at Progressive Field, with several laundry cycles in between.
“You may have seen players in the same clothes,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “You might see, you know, a dry cleaning bill or two. The clubbies might have to pick you up with a few extra cycles of laundry, but this is the playoffs, and this is where you want to be. If you have to be on the road for 30 more days to win the World Series, you take it.”
The Tigers are essentially where they thought they would be. They have taken the scenic route to get there.
“Winning on the road is definitely different than winning at home,” Holton said. “You’re against everybody. So I feel like when we’re able to have success on the road, it just motivates the guys, brings us closer together. When you’re able to come out on top, it’s a special feeling.”
Said Torkelson: “For the most part, I think it’s just been a big lesson: We can win, no matter what. We can find ways to win when 45,000 fans are rooting against us. I think that builds confidence and some self-belief as a group, like we can play and win in any atmosphere.”
Detroit relievers covered seven innings in relief of Melton, the lone run against the bullpen coming from an ill-fated three-batter appearance by former Mariners reliever Rafael Montero. Will Vest, a former Mariners Rule 5 Draft pick, retired the M’s in order in the ninth and 10th to put the Tigers in position for the lead. Keider Montero, who was an option to start this game, instead finished it for his first MLB save.
The cavalcade of relievers bought time for the Tigers’ offense to come through again after Carpenter’s two-run home run in the fifth inning – his fifth career homer off of Kirby — built a lead that lasted one inning.
“We had an idea that they were going to try to use different relievers and all that,” said Mariners star center fielder Julio Rodríguez, who homered off Melton for Seattle’s first run and singled in the second off Rafael Montero. “Just make an adjustment.”
Riley Greene’s single following Carpenter’s fourth career homer at T-Mobile Park was the Tigers’ final hit until 22 batters later, when McKinstry stepped to the plate in the 11th. Carlos Vargas, the Mariners’ sixth reliever of the night, had struck out Wenceel Pérez and Dillon Dingler, but McKinstry — 0-for-17 since his last hit Sept. 25 in Cleveland — jumped a 99.6 mph sinker and sent a ground ball through the middle to send Torkelson charging around third.
“Looking for a sinker there,” McKinstry said. “He throws it a lot. I got one and was able to get the job done.”
With that, the Tigers had flipped the series with a game that seemed like their least likely of the series to win.
“We didn’t steal it,” Hinch said. “We earned it.”
Win another, and they’ll earn a chance to finally go home, feel the crowd support and get a full cycle of laundry done.
