The 28-year-old utilityman, born this day in 1997 in Maracay, Venezuela, gave a packed house at T-Mobile Park a gift of his own in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Friday night, jumping on the second pitch he saw coming off the bench and lining it into left field for a game-tying RBI single.
Rivas wasn’t the first pinch-hitter Dan Wilson opted for in Mitch Garver’s spot in the inning. Garver, who drove in the Mariners’ first run of the night with a sacrifice fly in the second inning, came out to the on-deck circle in the seventh with right-hander Kyle Finnegan on the mound. But when his spot came up with two on and two outs, Wilson pulled him back in favor of lefty Dominic Canzone.
The next move in the chess match went to Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who pulled Finnegan in favor of left-hander Tyler Holton as soon as Canzone was announced. In response, Wilson lifted Canzone before he’d had the chance to step in the batter’s box, for the switch-hitting Rivas.
He made it count, becoming just the third player in postseason history (and the first since 1993) to record a pinch-hit postseason knock on his birthday.
And it was the first career postseason at-bat for Rivas, who played eight full seasons and logged 776 games in the Minor Leagues before getting his callup last year. After spending two months in the spring with the Mariners, he was optioned back to Tacoma, but was recalled when rosters expanded on Sept. 1.
