SEATTLE — The Tigers were prepared to ride the left arm of Tarik Skubal as long as they could Friday night at T-Mobile Park to get to the ALCS. They got six innings and a winner-take-all postseason record 13 strikeouts out of him. Then, amazingly, they still had another nine innings to fill.
Somehow, they nearly pulled it off.
A year after the Tigers rode Skubal and pitching chaos to the brink of the ALCS, they essentially did both in the same game in an effort to cross the threshold. Seven pitchers combined for 8 1/3 innings of relief in Detroit’s 3-2, 15-inning loss to the Mariners in Game 5 of the ALDS. The trusted late-inning trio of Kyle Finnegan, Tyler Holton and Will Vest combined for just three.
“Going into the game in a perfect world, you know, with Tarik, Will, Finnegan, Holton — those guys were all going to pitch if needed,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “On the back end of that, you’re just piecing together as best you can to extend the game. Because when we were pitching, we were one run from the season ending, so we were going batter by batter.”
What followed was a testament to anyone pitching at any time.
“It’s all hands on deck for Game 5,” said Jack Flaherty, who stepped out of the rotation to toss scoreless innings in the 13th and 14th. “Whatever I can do for these guys. It’s a great group of guys.”
Said catcher Dillon Dingler: “It was awesome, all of our ‘pen arms that came in. It’s incredible, too, in that moment that it wasn’t too big for them. They did such a good job.”
It was a mix of traditional starters, converted relievers and good arms with one guiding philosophy: Don’t let the Mariners’ dangerous hitters get comfortable.
“With their order, we didn’t really want to show the middle of their order the same pitcher,” Hinch said.
After Vest’s two scoreless innings and four strikeouts sent the game into extras, the creativity began. Hinch was reluctant to use Melton, who had just thrown three innings of relief two days ago to get the Game 4 win. But knowing Melton could give an inning, he turned to him for the 10th.
It was an incredible spot for a pitcher who began the season as Double-A Erie’s Opening Day starter six months earlier. But after giving up a Victor Robles double on his first pitch, Melton battled. He overpowered J.P. Crawford into a popout to second on a 100.3 mph fastball, the fastest pitch of his career. He battled Randy Arozarena for six pitches before fanning him on a splitter. After an intentional walk to Cal Raleigh, Melton got an inning-ending groundout from Julio Rodríguez.
After a rough postseason debut in Cleveland, Melton tossed eight innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts over his next four outings, providing a springboard for him to make a case for the rotation next spring.
Keider Montero, making his third appearance of the series, followed Melton with a perfect 11th through the middle of the Mariners’ lineup before a walk and a hit batter created trouble for him in the 12th. He was a ball away from loading the bases with nobody out, when he got back into the count against Crawford, who flied out to left on a 3-2 pitch. Two pitches later, Montero got a comebacker from Arozarena and kept his cool, firing a strike to second base to start an inning-ending double play.
By that point, Flaherty — seemingly lined up to start Game 1 of the ALCS if Detroit advanced — was warming in the bullpen.
“We talked to Jack at home before we left about the way it was going to map out over Game 5, and he needed to tailor his work to be able to be ready, and he was all in,” Hinch said. “I told him to go down [to the bullpen] about halfway through. I’m not even sure when he went down to the ‘pen, but it was going to be this extra-inning type of game that was going to take him into the game.”
It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. Flaherty walked three of the seven batters he faced, and threw just 21 of 43 pitches for strikes as he battled his fastball command. But he induced two strikeouts and two groundouts to escape, helped by Dingler’s 87.5 mph throw to second base to catch Robles trying to steal second and end the 14th inning.
“He was facing a good chunk of the meat of that order,” Dingler said, “and we’re making sure that we don’t give up a big run, so he’s nibbling. Which is fine, because this team will go out of the zone.”
Said Hinch: “Guys just kept battling. It felt like it was a pretty quiet game from an opportunity standpoint until we got into extras, and then there were runners everywhere, and there were double plays, and they’re caught stealing, and there’s bunts and there’s guys picking up each other on errors or misplays.”
Finally, the marathon ended with Tommy Kahnle, who allowed a leadoff single to Crawford and hit Arozarena with a pitch to create one situation too many. Raleigh’s flyout to center advanced Crawford to third, and Parker Meadows’ errant throw allowed Arozarena to move up. With first base open, Kahnle walked Rodríguez but ran the count full on Polanco.
A pitch away from a game-ending walk, Kahnle located a changeup at the bottom of the zone. Polanco, who struck out on two changeups from Skubal earlier in the game, connected with Kahnle’s for a single to right.
“The back half of that game is like a game in itself, you know? And we dodged a few bullets, and so did they,” Hinch said. “I didn’t want it to end certainly the way that it did, but I wanted to just keep giving ourselves a puncher’s chance, and they outlasted us.”
