DETROIT — The rains that dampened Comerica Park all Tuesday afternoon finally let up for the Tigers and Mariners to resume their AL Division Series just as evening approached. And as Detroit readied to take the field at home for the first time in 16 days, the orange of the towels the sellout crowd twirled mixed with the orange of the setting sun reflecting off the city skyline beyond right field and Ford Field out beyond left.
It was a surreal snapshot that exceeded what the Tigers could have imagined when they planned their Orange-Out theme for Game 3. By the end of the night, it seemed to fit the mood of the crowd, fearing the sunset of the Tigers’ incredible season.
After an unbelievable two-week road trip that galvanized the Tigers through their late-season struggles, they returned home to some of the same misfortune that they left when they departed town. They remain without a home win since Sept. 6, and after Tuesday night’s 8-4 loss to the Mariners put them on the brink of elimination, they’ll have to break the streak behind Casey Mize in Game 4 on Wednesday afternoon to extend their season and hand the series back to Tarik Skubal for a Game 5 in Seattle on Friday.
“Our confidence level has to be high. It doesn’t matter who we’re facing or what happened tonight,” Kerry Carpenter said. “I’ve said it before: We can’t get confidence from results, because results aren’t always going to be there. We have to tip our hat to them doing well tonight.”
It’s a tough ask in a lopsided game, but the Tigers stared down the same situation a week ago in Cleveland, where a 6-1 loss forced a winner-take-all Game 3 to their Wild Card Series.
“We bounce back well,” Dillon Dingler said. “The intensity’s going to be there. It’s an elimination game, so obviously the focus, the intensity, the passion’s going to be there.”
They’ll be ready because they know manager A.J. Hinch will put them in a position to be. They were in that position Tuesday; they simply, for the most part, didn’t execute.
Hinch aligned all he could to counter the Mariners’ strengths, from a batting order stacked with left-handers at the top against righty Logan Gilbert to a rested bullpen ready to step up in support of Jack Flaherty. But Seattle simply overpowered Detroit, both at the plate and on the mound.
Hinch arranged his lineup to force a decision for Seattle counterpart Dan Wilson on what he calls the 19th at-bat, or the third time through the order: Stick with Gilbert for a third meeting with Carpenter, or use lefty reliever Gabe Speier early?
Carpenter got his third matchup with Gilbert in a big situation, with runners on the corners and one out in the fifth inning. It was a chance to get Detroit back in a game that was getting out of reach after two-run Mariners rallies in the third and fourth.
Carpenter saw a barrage of sliders and splitters on the outside corner, fouling off a couple sliders below the zone and laying off the splitters to force a full count. The one pitch in the zone was the last, a slider on the corner that Carpenter hit on the ground to the right side.
Carpenter bolted down the line to first to beat out a potential inning-ending double play and put the Tigers on the board. But he couldn’t change the game.
“He was doing a good job,” Carpenter said of Gilbert. “It looked like a fastball out of the hand a lot of the time. I chased a couple. Wish I would’ve just trusted my hands a little more there, but he stuck to his plan. It was clearly just soft, soft, soft, and it ended up working out for him.”
Carpenter went 0-for-3 against Gilbert. Just two of the 14 pitches he saw were four-seam fastballs.
“I thought he was going to be more aggressive in the zone,” Carpenter said. “And he made really good pitches that looked like they were fastballs over the plate. … He has a pretty amazing fastball. I wanted to be ready for that.”
Carpenter is hitless since his two-run homer in the fifth inning of Game 1, also the third at-bat of that game. The Mariners have pitched him carefully since then. They’ll do the same in Game 4 with Bryce Miller.
Carpenter will continue to be a focal point in the lineup, possibly again in the leadoff spot to force a decision.
“I want to be up there,” Carpenter said. “I’m confident in myself and I know that I have a good chance of giving it to the next guy. … I want those moments, thankful to have them and unfortunately I haven’t come through the last couple times.”
If the Tigers need confidence, the ninth inning showed how quickly momentum can change, even in defeat. With an 8-1 lead and many fans headed for the exits, Wilson turned to left-hander Caleb Ferguson, hoping to rest his key relievers. Hinch, still playing matchups, unleashed his right-handed hitters off the bench — Jake Rogers for Colt Keith, Jahmai Jones for Riley Greene, Andy Ibáñez for Zach McKinstry.
Rogers singled, Jones walked, Spencer Torkelson doubled them home, then Ibáñez singled home Torkelson. Suddenly, what had been a blowout was turning enough that Wilson called on closer Andrés Muñoz for the third time in four days.
Muñoz needed just nine pitches for three outs, capped by a line-drive double play from Parker Meadows. But it’s a reminder that matchups matter, and the right ones — when executed — can turn a game. The Tigers will need them Wednesday.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We knew it wasn’t going to be hand-gifted to us,” Hinch said. “We’re going to have to earn it and play better in all aspects against a really good team. And we can, because we have a really good team, too. I’m looking forward to game time.”
