Jorge Polanco grounded a single into right field with one out and the bases loaded in the 15th inning, giving the Seattle Mariners a 3-2 victory against the visiting Detroit Tigers on Friday in the decisive Game 5 of the American League Division Series.
Luis Castillo (1-0), making the first relief appearance of his major league career, pitched one and one-third innings for the victory, which put the Mariners in the AL Championship Series for the first time since 2001.
Seattle will play the Blue Jays for the pennant in a matchup of 1977 expansion brethren. Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday in Toronto.
JP Crawford led off the bottom of the 15th with a line-drive single to right off Tommy Kahnle (0-1). Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch before Cal Raleigh flied out, with Crawford taking third on a throwing error by center fielder Parker Meadows. After an intentional walk to Julio Rodriguez, Polanco singled on a 3-2 pitch to win it.
Kerry Carpenter hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to account for all of the Tigers’ offense.
The Mariners tied it at 2-2 in the seventh on pinch hitter Leo Rivas’ RBI single.
Both teams threatened repeatedly in extra innings, with the Mariners grounding into inning-ending double plays in both the 12th and 13th.
Starters Tarik Skubal of Detroit and George Kirby of Seattle dueled in the early innings.
Skubal, the favorite to win a second consecutive Cy Young Award, allowed one run on two hits and no walks over six innings with 13 strikeouts. He set an major league postseason record with seven consecutive strikeouts, fanning Victor Robles to end the second inning and striking out the side in both the third and fourth.
The only run Skubal allowed came in the second. Josh Naylor lined a double the opposite way into the left field corner with one out, stole third and came home on Mitch Garver’s sacrifice fly to deep center.
Skubal, who threw 99 pitches, retired the final 14 batters he faced before turning the ball over to the bullpen.
The Mariners tied it in the seventh. Polanco drew a one-out walk off reliever Kyle Finnegan and Naylor grounded a two-out single into right, with Polanco stopping at second. After pinch hitter Dominic Canzone was announced, the Tigers turned to left-hander Tyler Holton.
The Mariners countered with Rivas, who was celebrating his 28th birthday. Rivas lined a single to left to score Polanco and make it 2-2.
Kirby opened with five scoreless innings before Javier Baez lined a leadoff double to center in the sixth. With the left-handed-hitting Carpenter coming to the plate, Mariners manager Dan Wilson opted to turn to Gabe Speier. That was in large part because Carpenter had five homers in his career against Kirby, including a two-run shot in the fifth inning of Game 1 – which the Tigers won 3-2 in 11 innings.
Carpenter spoiled the strategy, hitting a 1-0 fastball right down the middle 411 feet into the stands in right-center field to give Detroit the lead.
Kirby went five-plus innings and was charged with one run on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
