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# Rapid Reaction: M’s Cage Tigers 8-4 in Game 3 of ALDS, Lead Series 2-1
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/rapid-reaction-ms-cage-tigers-8-4-in-game-3-of-alds-lead-series-2-1/
- Published: 2025-10-08T02:59:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:57:53.000Z
- Author: Callaghan Bluechel
- Tags: News, Mariners, Logan Gilbert, Caleb Ferguson, Andres Munoz, Victor Robles, Randy Arozarena, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Eugenio Suarez, J.P. Crawford, Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone

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DETROIT, Mich. — Over four games at Comerica Park in 2025, the Seattle Mariners have scored 43 runs. And on a Tuesday in October, eight of those gave the M’s an all-important Game 3 victory.

Although Game 3 had originally been slated for 1:08 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (4:08 p.m. local time) on Tuesday afternoon, Mother Nature threw a bit of a wrench in the works. A rainstorm blew through southeastern Michigan, forcing the Comerica Park grounds crew to bring out the tarp. At first, it was projected to be a brief shower, but the waterworks kept coming for quite a while. Three hours had passed before the field was ready for action.

During the regular season, the M’s went just 1-6 in rain-delayed games, but the inclement weather didn’t affect Rain City’s own in Game 3\. The offense picked up right where they had left off the last time they had played in Comerica Park, scoring eight runs, and every pitcher not named Caleb Ferguson shut the Tigers lineup down with ease. 

### Mariners post four runs against Jack Flaherty, but the Tigers’ starter manages to postpone the boat race.

Seattle’s offense started off on the wrong foot in the first, but some good at-bats in the top of the second—including an 11-pitch groundout by Josh Naylor—forced Detroit hurler Jack Flaherty to put in some elbow grease by the beginning of the third inning.

That frame was a bit of a charm for the M’s. Víctor Robles shot a soft liner into the left field corner for a leadoff double, followed immediately by a single into center by J.P. Crawford. Riley Greene initially kept Robles at third with a quick throw into the infield, but third baseman Zach McKinstry had a brief mental lapse and the ball bounced past him all the way to the backstop, and Robles scampered home for Seattle’s first run. With Crawford moving to second on the error (charged to Greene), Randy Arozarena’s up-the-middle grounder easily brought the Mariners’ shortstop home to bring Seattle to a 2-0 lead.

Flaherty battled back after walking Cal Raleigh, getting the next three batters out to keep the game close through three. It didn’t take long for the fireworks to resume, however, as an Eugenio Suárez leadoff bomb was followed by walks from Dominic Canzone and J.P. Crawford and a run-scoring single by Raleigh. By that point, Flaherty had already been pulled from the game, but all the runs were charged on the starter as Seattle had a 4-0 lead. It was a solid advantage, but the Tigers still had a chance to come back.

### Logan Gilbert goes for six innings, allowing the Mariners’ bullpen more rest than it had in the first two games.

Mariners starter Logan Gilbert got the ball on Tuesday for the first time since Sept. 27, and more than perhaps anyone on the team, he went in facing a “rust versus rest” narrative. Now, that narrative is perhaps the epitome of Monday morning quarterbacking, but there is some truth to the importance of rhythm.

Yet another chip broke off the “rust” narrative on Tuesday, as Gilbert went six full innings with seven strikeouts while only giving up one walk, four hits, and a single run. With only 85 pitches in his outing, he very well could have gone into the seventh inning, but Mariners manager Dan Wilson played it conservatively in a swing game. Still, Gilbert took advantage of an aggressive Tigers lineup (who were trying to avoid two-strike counts against one of the best strikeout pitchers in the league) and got further into Tuesday’s game than he had worked at many moments in the season.

“I was trying to be aggressive,” Gilbert said after the game. “I didn’t get a ton of first pitch strikes, but after that, the slider covered really good, and I was in the zone quite a bit—just trying to make them put it in play.”

Gilbert got out to a shaky start in the bottom of the first, with a couple overcooked fastballs and too many breaking pitches out over the plate that the Tigers cracked hard, but some good luck went Gilbert’s way as just one of the first three batters evaded an infielder’s glove. Against Riley Greene, however, the Mariner pitcher spun two beautiful splitters, and his first strikeout sent the game to the second. The second inning was an almost exact repeat of the first, but Parker Meadows was able to work a bit of a longer at-bat before his inning-ending punchout.

Despite Gilbert losing control of his splitter in the middle innings of the game, he still kept the Tigers off the board until the fifth. That inning, however, started off poorly for Gilbert, as he hit Dillon Dingler with a payoff pitch to begin the frame and Parker Meadows bunted him over to second, only being thrown out at first due to an incredible barehand grab by Suárez. Javier Báez singled to put runners on the corners to set up Kerry Carpenter, the Tigers’ Game 1 hero, but Dingler only scored due to a spiked throw to first.

It was smooth sailing after that for Gilbert, as he regained control of his splitter in the sixth inning and getting his final two strikeouts on the way to a playoff victory.

### Hinch’s Carpenter gamble pulls one nail out of the coffin but doesn’t saw through a big enough hole for the Tigers to crawl through. 

It can surely be said that the house the Tigers found themselves in on Monday morning had been built by right fielder Kerry Carpenter. Although he missed a fair amount of the 2025 regular season with injury, he still hit 26 home runs and knocked in 62\. And in Game 1, he turned what was on track to be a close Tigers loss into an extra-inning win with one swing of the bat.

Facing George Kirby with a man on and two outs in the top of the fifth, Carpenter fell behind 1-2—but promptly got a pitch right in his wheelhouse. Unlike many in the league, his hot zone extends well above the strike zone to the letters, and that was where he connected on a game-flipping home run. A little under 24 hours later, he once again came up with traffic on the bases and his team down 1-0 in the top of the fifth. Again, it was his third time up in the game, and again, Seattle’s starter was nearing 100 pitches. Unlike in Game 1, however, Dan Wilson put southpaw Gabe Speier on the mound to close out the inning, and Carpenter was quickly shut down.

Going into Game 3, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch made a move to try and push Wilson’s decision earlier in the game. Rather than bat Carpenter second in the lineup as he had in the first two games, Detroit’s right fielder led off on Tuesday. 

And although he did nothing of note in his first two at-bats, his third at-bat is worth looking at in more detail. Coming up for the third game in a row with runners on the corners in the fifth, Hinch had exactly the opportunity he planned for. The Mariners held a meeting on the mound, but with Gilbert on just 62 pitches, Wilson left him in the game. The plan for Seattle was simple: keep the ball down in the zone. Although neither the pitcher nor the hitter was prone to grounders, the M’s were going for the double play.

Gilbert’s stuff stayed down, but as had been the case for the past couple innings, he lacked control on his splitter. He was still able to work strikes on his slider, however, and with a full count, Carpenter whacked a ground ball to Polanco—exactly what the Mariners wanted. But although they made the out at second, Crawford’s throw to first knuckled down in front of Naylor, who closed the glove too early as the ball bounced off his hand. One run scored, but as Gilbert worked out of the inning, the Tigers were still in a giant hole.

### J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, and Andrés Muñoz shut the door and force the Tigers to the edge.

Although Crawford’s tricky throw had allowed one Tiger to score, the Mariners shortstop wasted little time getting the run back, knocking the cover off a two-out hanging slider for a solo shot in the sixth. Crawford had another opportunity in the eighth due to a Luke Raley hit-by-pitch and a baffling dropped catch by Carpenter in right field. It wasn’t a home run, but he came through once more with a sacrifice fly.

The M’s have had issues putting opposing ball clubs away for much of the season, but on Tuesday, they kept piling it on, as Raleigh crushed a two-run blast to the opposite field to top off Seattle’s eight-run effort. Even with a seven-run lead, however, the importance of this late-game scoring came into full view in the bottom of the ninth.

With three of the next four batters up due to be left-handed, Caleb Ferguson went out to the mound to try and give usual closer Andrés Muñoz at least one day of rest. But just as Hinch didn’t get any good wood out of his Carpenter strategy, there was not any fruit for Wilson’s attempt to save his best arm. All of the lefties the southpaw Ferguson was set to face were yanked for right-handed pinch hitters who saw him well, and the Tigers put up a single, a walk, a double, and another single to turn an 8-1 rout into a more uneasy 8-4 ballgame.

Muñoz entered the game and rapidly shut down Detroit’s comeback hopes, getting a weak flyout for the first out before Parker Meadows lined into an inning-ending double play. 

The Mariners now have the chance to eliminate the Tigers in their own stomping grounds on Wednesday as Bryce Miller takes the mound against Casey Mize. Momentum is on Seattle’s side going into Game 4, but with their shakiest starter taking the hill, it is wise to remember that a ferocious beast is most dangerous when it is cornered.