Jorge Polanco on Friday belted the walk-off single in the 15th inning as the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 in a scintillating winner-take-all showdown to advance in the MLB playoffs.
The Mariners survived an epic performance from Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal then held on to reach the American League (AL) Championship Series for the first time since 2001.
They are to take on the Toronto Blue Jays in the best-of-seven AL Championship Series starting today with a World Series berth on the line.
Photo: AP
J.P. Crawford led off the bottom of the 15th inning with a single before Detroit relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch.
The runners advanced on Cal Raleigh’s fly out and after Julio Rodriguez was intentionally walked, Polanco came to the plate and laced a single to right field that closed out the longest winner-take-all game in MLB playoff history and sent the crowd at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park into a frenzy.
“I was trying to get a good pitch to hit, trying to drive it to the middle,” Polanco said. “I know we played a long game, but this team never gave up.”
Mariners manager Dan Wilson called it “an incredible ballgame from top to bottom.”
“I don’t even know where to begin to try to recap all the heroic efforts that went into today, from one guy to the next,” Wilson said.
The Mariners had opened the scoring with one run in the bottom of the second when Josh Naylor smacked a double off Skubal, stole third and scored on Mitch Garver’s sacrifice fly.
Skubal struck out the next seven batters he faced — a playoff record.
He departed after six innings with 13 strikeouts. He retired the last 14 batters he faced, including a strikeout of Mariners catcher Raleigh, who led the major leagues with 60 home runs this season.
Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby pitched five scoreless innings, striking out six.
Kirby was lifted after Javier Baez doubled to open the sixth and reliever Gabe Speier immediately gave up a towering two-run homer to Kerry Carpenter that put the Tigers up 2-1.
The Mariners clawed back a run in the seventh on a single from pinch-hitter Leo Rivas — in his first post-season at-bat on his 28th birthday.
It would take another eight innings to settle it as both teams’ bullpens kept the game balanced on a knife-edge.
The Mariners used six relief pitchers — including regular starters Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo.
The seven relievers used by Detroit included regular starter Jack Flaherty.
“It makes me a little emotional, because these guys are unbelievable, just how much they fought tonight,” Wilson said.
Gilbert gave up back to-back singles to Zach McKinstry and Dillon Dingler to open the 12th inning, but Eduard Bazardo took over on the mound and worked out of a bases-loaded jam.
The Mariners put two runners on with none out in the bottom of the 12th, but after Crawford’s fly out, Detroit pitcher Keider Montero induced Arozarena to hit into a double play.
After Bazardo retired three straight in the top of the 13th, Detroit sent Flaherty to the mound.
Seattle stranded two runners in the bottom of the frame, and they went to the 14th — making it the longest winner-take-all matchup in postseason history.
Dillon Dingler belted a one-out double in the top of the 14th, but the Tigers could not capitalize, and Castillo came in to record the final out.
Flaherty walked Victor Robles with two out in the bottom of the 14th, but Robles was caught trying to steal second base.
“The back half of that game is like a game in itself, you know?” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “And we dodged a few bullets, and so did they.”
“We had an incredible game today,” he added. “Unfortunately, somebody had to lose and that somebody was us — and it hurts.”
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