Three instant impressions after the Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Sunday night at T-Mobile Park and evened the series at 1-1:
The best come through
The playoffs often become simple. Your best players must come through in the biggest moments.
Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez did in the eighth inning.
All the momentum was with the Tigers after a walk, an error and Spencer Torkelson’s double tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the inning. But with Tarik Skubal no longer on the mound, the M’s two best players answered right back.
Raleigh doubled on the first pitch he saw from Kyle Finnegan into the right-field corner. Rodríguez saw two pitches — both splitters — and lined the second into the left-field corner.
Two swings. One big run. One collapse avoided. An even series.
And the first home playoff win for the M’s in 24 years.
Polanco’s swings
Jorge Polanco now has a game in Mariners history worthy of a special name. Maybe, “Polo’s solos?”
Whatever the case, Polanco’s two solo homers of Skubal that provided the offense Seattle desperately needed will forever remembered. His first in the fourth inning came on a 2-0 slider. His second in the sixth inning came on a 3-2 fastball.
They were as important as they were unexpected considering who was on the mound.
Of the 20 home runs Skubal has allowed this season — playoffs included — only three came off the slider. Oddly enough, the first came from a Mariner as Dylan Moore homered off a Skubal slider on April 2. Nolan Arenado homered on the pitch May 20.
And now, Polanco.
It shouldn’t be a surprise though to see Polanco performing. He was arguably Seattle’s best hitter in September. Polanco slashed .329/.380/.634 with a 1.015 OPS, 13 doubles and 16 RBI in the final month of the regular season.
He’s the first Mariners player since 1995 to have multiple home runs in the same game. The others — all during that magical ’95 playoff run — were Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner. Pretty good company.
It’s also another reminder of how much home runs matter in the postseason when the pitching is so good. Teams out-homering their opponents are now 9-2 this postseason.
Remember the third
Luis Castillo was on his way to a painfully short night with his pitch count sitting at 51 after just two innings. He was missing, especially with his sinker, leading to long at-bats and three walks in the first two innings.
It all changed for Castillo and for the pitching plans of manager Dan Wilson in the third inning. Castillo started to use the sinker less, relied more on his four-seam fastball and found efficiency that was missing in the first two innings. He needed just nine pitches to retire the Tigers in order in the third and another nine pitches to set them down 1-2-3 in the fourth.
Castillo threw just two sinkers over those two innings. The four-seam fastball and the slider were largely responsible for those six outs that kept Wilson from turning to the bullpen early.
As great as Gabe Speier was with another brilliant 1 1/3 innings out of the bullpen, those six outs by Castillo to get into the fifth were the most important of the night.