SEATTLE — As the Mariners take on hostile territory for the first time this postseason, it’ll be Logan Gilbert‘s job to quiet a raucous Detroit crowd.
Ahead of Game 2 of the ALDS against the Tigers, Seattle manager Dan Wilson confirmed what all signs had pointed to since he announced that George Kirby would start Game 1, followed by Luis Castillo: Gilbert, the Mariners’ Opening Day starter, will get the ball to start Game 3. He’ll do so in a tied series after Sunday night’s 3-2 win in Game 2, with the chance to steal a win on the road just as the Tigers stole a win in Seattle.
What does Wilson expect to see Tuesday?
“Logan Gilbert,” he said. “What he’s done for us this year.”
After leading the Major Leagues in innings in 2024, this season has been more of an up-and-down one for Gilbert, who went on the injured list for the first time in his career in April with a flexor strain in his right elbow and didn’t return until mid-June. Since returning to action, he’s posted a 3.75 ERA with 129 strikeouts compared to 25 walks. He finished his season with 173 strikeouts in 131 innings, with his 11.89 K/9 leading all pitchers (min. 120 innings).
And while Gilbert has posted stark home/away splits — albeit less pronounced than the rest of Seattle’s rotation — with a 4.74 ERA in 12 starts away from T-Mobile Park compared to a 2.24 ERA in 13 starts at home, he logged a quality start in three of his final four road starts of the regular season.
This will be Gilbert’s third start against Detroit this season. On April 1, he allowed three runs in five innings while striking 10. On July 13 at Comerica Park, he K’d nine and allowed two unearned runs in 5 1/3 innings before running into an inflated pitch count.
“I think he matches up well against this club,” Wilson said. “Obviously the fastball, but more the split, the slider, you know, really good secondary options against this club, and I think it stacks up pretty well.”
That pitch count — and how many outs Gilbert can get within it — will be a point to watch Tuesday. After getting at least one out in the seventh inning in 17 of his 33 starts in 2024, he’s only done so three times this season, and he hasn’t thrown seven complete frames since Opening Day against the Athletics.
Wilson had to use all of his high-leverage relievers on Saturday in Game 1, after George Kirby exited after five innings of work. Sunday was a similar story, with Luis Castillo going 4 2/3 innings and the high-leverage quartet of Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz all working back-to-back days to see out a win in Game 2.
“This is the time of year where we have to be available,” Wilson said. “And these guys want the ball, and they want to be in those situations.”
Another factor in play for Game 3 is the status of Josh Naylor, whose wife is in Arizona expecting the birth of their first child. Naylor has gone 0-for-8 with a walk in the first games of the series.
If Naylor has to miss Game 3, the Mariners have rookie third baseman Ben Williamson on the roster to fill in with a spot start. Eugenio Suárez, who played four innings at first base across two games in early September, has been taking reps there — and played there in the Mariners’ pre-ALDS scrimmages — and could move across the diamond, leaving Williamson, who started 79 games at the hot corner after getting his callup in April, to start at third.
