Rapid Reaction: Mariners Fall 3-2 in 11 Innings to Tigers in Game 1 of ALDS
Struggling to come through with timely hits, the Seattle Mariners suffered a series-opening 3-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers in 11 innings, falling behind in the series with a Game 2 matchup against Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal coming up on Sunday.
Here are three takeaways from a difficult Game 1 defeat for the Mariners:
Tigers Win the Battle of the Bullpens as Mariners Offense Falls Dormant
It’s extremely difficult to expect your bullpen to be perfect, especially with eventually needing them to cover six innings in a game. Through five innings of work, the Mariners’ pen was absolutely nails, with two walks being the unit’s only blemish from the fifth inning through the 10th. Detroit was hitless and scoreless against the barrage of Caleb Ferguson, Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash, and Andres Muñoz, with the latter giving the Mariners six outs for the first time all season.
In the sixth, Ferguson allowed a leadoff free pass before getting the next two hitters out. Playing the matchups, Mariners manager Dan Wilson lifted his southpaw for the righty Bazardo to face Javier Baez to end the inning. Bazardo did get Baez to pop out, but only threw three pitches as lefty Gabe Speier began the seventh. Decisions like those have a trickle-down effect, especially in close games where the end isn’t clearly in sight.
Fast-forward to the 11th, where Carlos Vargas became the sixth Mariner out of the bullpen in the game. The first batter he faced was Spencer Torkelson, and Vargas committed a deadly sin, especially from a reliever – walking the leadoff man. Vargas settled in slightly by striking out the next two batters, utilizing his hard cutter to put them away, but during the at-bat to Wenceel Pérez, Vargas yanked his sinker too much, and catcher Cal Raleigh couldn’t corral it, allowing Torkelson to move up to second on the wild pitch. Then, with two outs, Zach McKinstry knocked a ball back up the box to bring in the eventual game-winning run.
On the other side, Detroit’s bullpen covered one more inning than Seattle and was even more dominant. There was no telling how far Tigers starter Troy Melton would go, especially after getting rocked on Wednesday during the Wild Card Series against the Guardians, allowing three hits and four earned runs in 1/3 of an inning pitched. But he gave his team four innings of one-run ball against the M’s, leading the way for his manager, AJ Hinch, to deploy a term Detroit popularized during their incredible run in 2024, ‘Pitching Chaos.’ On the backs of seven arms, the Tigers’ bullpen surrendered just four hits and a walk with four strikeouts from the fifth inning on. This is with Rafael Montero not recording a single out in his sixth-inning appearance.
They completely silenced the Seattle offense, which has been uncommon for the unit compared to seasons past, causing hope for why this season might end differently for the Mariners. The team had six hits in total, and they were all posted by Seattle’s two best hitters. Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez notched three hits apiece, while no one else could manage a knock as Randy Arozarena and Josh Naylor worked walks.
Julio Does Heavy Lifting For Offense
For his fourth straight big league season, Rodríguez had a torrid second half at the plate to finish the year on a good note. And the Mariners’ centerfielder kept his momentum going to kick off his 2025 playoff run, as he opened the scoring on Saturday night with a blast to straightaway center to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Rodriguez received straight heat in the five-pitch at-bat from Tigers starter Troy Melton, who bookended two misses inside with borderline strike calls on the outside corner. But the 97 mph four-seamer Melton threw to close the plate appearance was the lone one over the plate, and even though it was up, Rodriguez barreled it. The ball left his bat at 110 mph, into the section out in center that Rodriguez motions to frequently when he roams the outfield, making spectacular catches.
In the sixth, with Detroit up 2-1, Arozarena worked a walk after falling behind 0-2 against reliever Rafael Montero, setting the table for Raleigh to dump a single into right center that scooted Arozarena to third. Rodriguez wasted no time as he muscled a hard sinker from Montero the other way to score Arozarena. It definitely wasn’t the hardest hit ball of his career – only 77 mph off his bat – but he got the sweet spot, and more importantly, knotted things up at two.
But seemingly in the midst of a rally, the Mariners quickly ran themselves out of the inning. Hinch brought in southpaw Tyler Holton to relieve Montero and face Josh Naylor. Naylor rolled over to the left of second base, where shifted shortstop Javier Baez retrieved the ball. Instead of stopping in the basepath or even retreating to first, Rodríguez ran toward Baez, who applied the tag before throwing out Naylor to complete a 6-3 double play. The next batter, Jorge Polanco, put a good swing on a cutter to the opposite field but lined out to end the threat.
It was a magnified play considering the fact that the Mariners didn’t have many baserunners and scoring opportunities. After a Raleigh two-out base hit into left-center, Rodríguez worked the count to 3-2 before chasing a splitter down and in the dirt from Kyle Finnegan that could’ve put two on and two out for Naylor. He did extend the game momentarily in the bottom of the 11th with two outs on a blistering 113 mph single up the middle, but Naylor bounced out to first to end the night.
Kirby Delivers Solid Outing Even While Allowing Go-Ahead Homer
Just like the bullpen, it was a bumpy end to the road for the Mariners’ Game 1 starter, but George Kirby was solid in his second career playoff start. Although Tigers’ designated hitter Kerry Carpenter clipped the right-hander for a booming two-run shot in his final frame – his fifth hit off Kirby in his career in 11 at-bats, with all five being homers – Kirby certainly gave Seattle a chance to win, allowing just two earned runs over five innings.
Kirby was working his two-seamer glove side well against the Tigers in this one, as he got both looking strikes and swings-and-misses from Detroit batters on that pitch and location. Perhaps amped up with the calendar turning to October, Kirby saw all of pitches tick up around a mile per hour in velocity with that sinker flirting with triple digits as he touched 99 mph on several occasions.
He finished with eight punchouts, inducing 16 whiffs on 49 swings – a 33 percent whiff rate on the night. As usual, Kirby was controlled, with 62 of his 94 pitches being strikes and just allowing one walk to catcher Dillon Dingler, where none of the four offerings were competitive. Only one of Kirby’s innings was clean, the fourth, but he worked around his six hits allowed to limit damage.
In the sequence to Carpenter in the fifth, Kirby got a favorable call on a front door pitch to jump ahead 0-2 in the count. After going back to the well and not earning the same favor from home plate umpire Alex Tosi, Kirby’s third consecutive two-seamer ran back out over the plate and Carpenter jumped all over it to flip the score to 2-1 in Detroit’s favor. With it being the righty’s third time through the order along with the Tigers slugger’s potent history against Kirby, there is reasonable question on if he should’ve been left in for that at-bat, especially with a runner in scoring position. But the absence of the team’s ace Bryan Woo in the Division Series creates more pressure for all of Seattle’s arms, especially Kirby as the Game 1 starter.
Overall, it was a frustrating night for the Mariners, and the ramifications of the loss are daunting. They now have to win three of the next four games with two of the matchups likely having to come against the Cy Young favorite in Skubal, who will toe the rubber tomorrow night for the Tigers. As been the M.O. for the franchise for several seasons, the pitching gave them a chance to win but the offense fell short. Now Seattle faces a must-win game against arguably the game’s best pitcher on Sunday and has to find a way to even the series before heading to Detroit for two games.
