SEATTLE — For a starved fanbase that specializes in stress, the Mariners gave their faithful a dynamite dose on Friday night. But in the best way possible.
Jorge Polanco ripped a walk-off single through the right-side hole with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 15th inning, sending Seattle to a 3-2 victory over the Tigers in the decisive Game 5 of this American League Division Series.
Polanco was in line after J.P. Crawford led off with a single then Randy Arozarena drew a hit-by-pitch off reliever Tommy Kahnle. Both runners advanced on a flyout from Cal Raleigh, then Julio Rodríguez was intentionally walked to create the force play.
Adding to the tension, Polanco worked into a full count — forcing Kahnle’s hand — then yanked a changeup below the zone into right field to send the roaring crowd into a complete frenzy.
“I’m just so happy for the city,” Rodríguez said. “I don’t think there is any fanbase that is hungrier than Mariners fans. I’m just so happy that we were able to pull through this series and can give them some more good baseball.”
“We’ve talked about the fight all year long,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “To go 15 innings tonight — 15 rounds, so to speak — and to come out on top, that sure feels good.”
It had many of the iconic ingredients from “The Double” in the 1995 ALDS that remains arguably the most monumental win in franchise history. But it also had the angst from the 18-inning marathon loss to Houston in the 2022 ALDS that featured many of the same faces in the home dugout on Friday.
Only this time, there was no agony at the end.
“I thought we’d never have to do that again,” Cal Raleigh said, “and that was just about as [damn] close.”
“That 18-inning game and then — man, just countless amounts of one-run games at the end,” said George Kirby, Seattle’s starter on Friday. “Man, we’ve been in it all. So if anything, we’re probably the most prepared team for it.”
Friday’s game featured three of the Mariners’ starting pitchers (Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo), two of the Tigers’ (Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty), along with the longest career outings from two of Seattle’s leverage arms (Matt Brash and Eduard Bazardo).
For Gilbert and Castillo, it was unprecedented, as neither had ever pitched in relief in the Majors. And with Gilbert, especially, it had all the shades of Randy Johnson doing the same in Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS — objectively the most iconic win in franchise history. But that nostalgic night from 30 years ago now has company.
“Every year, it feels like there’s been a big letdown, or we didn’t get as far as we thought,” Gilbert said. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but I feel that we’re starting to show who we are.”
For the Mariners to move on in these playoffs, they had to completely empty the emotional tank. No one showed more of it than Bazardo, who walked the tightest of ropes when escaping a bases-loaded jam upon relieving Gilbert in the 12th. He then came back for a curtain call with a scoreless 13th then returned again in the 14th but gave up a leadoff double.
That’s when Wilson turned to Castillo, who kept the game within reach by recording four outs with no hits over 15 pitches.
Overall, Seattle’s pitchers held Detroit 8-for-51 (.157) with just two extra-base hits, four walks and 17 strikeouts.
“I don’t even know where to begin to try to recap all the heroic efforts that went into today,” Wilson said, “just from one guy to the next.”
Friday’s final moments came what felt like eons after the Mariners were overpowered by Skubal, the Tigers’ all-world ace who was every bit the part. Skubal struck out a whopping 13 to set a postseason record in a winner-take-all game and gave up just one run that Josh Naylor manufactured almost single-handedly in the second inning.
Naylor had one of just two Mariners hits against the overpowering lefty, when he punched a 100.2 mph fastball way off the plate into the left-field corner, which he followed up by boldly stealing third base. And that put him in position to put Seattle on the board via a deep sacrifice fly from Mitch Garver.
“Everybody stayed together,” Polanco said. “Everybody supports each other. When we come to the ballpark, we’ve got one mentality — and it’s to go out there and try and give it our all.”
Yet Naylor’s knock also wound up being the Mariners’ final hit against Skubal, who retired each of his final 14 and finished the night with zero walks. Predictably, it was only after they knocked him out of the game that the Mariners finally did their damage, with the unlikeliest of heroes coming up in the most unlikeliest of ways.
Leo Rivas, a nine-year Minor League journeyman before debuting in 2024, ripped a game-tying RBI single into left field when coming off the bench with two outs in the seventh.
And he was a pinch-hitter for a pinch-hitter, as Tigers manager A.J. Hinch turned to lefty Tyler Holton once Wilson deployed lefty slugger Dominic Canzone, at which point Rivas was the counter piece on the chessboard — on his 28th birthday and in his first playoff at-bat, to boot.
“It’s been a journey, you know?” Rivas said. “Just every day, I take it as a new day here, just like my debut. So I just prepare for any situation, and thank God I just did it today.”
Rivas’ game-tying knock was a punch back after the Tigers had struck a punctuating blow in the sixth via a two-run homer from Kerry Carpenter. Detroit’s slugger has tormented the Mariners for his entire career, but Friday night was shaping up to be an ultimate dagger, when he took Gabe Speier deep immediately after the lefty relieved George Kirby after just 66 pitches.
That call to the bullpen was expected, even in a best-case scenario for Kirby, who surrendered a decisive two-run homer to Carpenter in Game 1 and would’ve been facing him for the third time on Friday. Kirby, who was responsible for Gleyber Torres on second base after a leadoff double, was seen chewing into a towel in helpless disbelief after Carpenter’s ball cleared the fence.
But Rivas, Gilbert, Castillo, Polanco, Bazardo — some of the expected heroes and others far less so — wound up saving the day. And because of it, Seattle is moving on.
