SEATTLE — They are the faces of the franchise and on whose shoulders that the Mariners have staked their present and future, players who are already on their way to superstardom and who could reach heights of perpetuity in this region if this playoff run ends with a parade.
Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez, the blue-collar catcher who crushes 60 homers and the five-tool center fielder who loves the spotlight. They make a dynamic duo at the top of the Mariners’ lineup, and they delivered in a huge way on Sunday night.
Raleigh yanked a double into the right-field corner with one out in the eighth inning then Rodríguez allowed for him to race home by going full alley-oop with a double of his own, this one into left field. Those back-to-back knocks answered a tense Tigers rally a half-inning prior and lifted Seattle to a 3-2 victory in Game 2 of this American League Division Series that, by all measures, was in must-win territory.
“This has to be No. 1,” Rodríguez said in a postgame TV interview when asked where the moment ranks in his career. “We haven’t had a time like this here in a while, so being able to deliver a win tonight as a team I think was really special for me. Just to see the fans and the way they got going, it was very special. I’m always going to hold that memory in my heart.”
After taking a gut-punch defeat in Game 1, the Mariners have evened this series as it shifts to Detroit — and more critically, they did do so against Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, making them the first team to defeat the all-world ace three times in the same season.
Before Raleigh and Rodríguez sparked the rally, Jorge Polanco crushed two solo homers off Skubal that gave them just enough — because they were again buoyed by a dominant, team-wide pitching effort.
