SEATTLE – Edgar. Griffey. Jorge Polanco.
Like the Hall of Famers before him, Jorge Polanco carved his name permanently into the firmament of Mariners lore with extra-inning heroics to send a baseball team that rarely makes the playoffs to the American League Championship Series.
Polanco’s ground -ball single gave the Mariners a 3-2 win in the 15th inning of Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series, sending them to a Sunday matchup in Toronto to play for a spot in their first World Series.
Three times before Polanco stepped to the plate in the 15th inning the Mariners had gotten a runner in scoring position with no outs in extra innings and came up empty. The team looked tired and, while nearly all of the 47,025 fans in attendance had stayed in their seats, confidence was waning in the 58th minute of the game’s fourth hour.
A J.P. Crawford single and Randy Arozarena hit-by-pitch set the table once again. Then Cal Raleigh woke up the crowd with a lineout to center field that sent Crawford to third base, and Arozarena took second on a bad throw. The Tigers intentionally walked Julio Rodriguez, giving Polanco his chance to win another ACLS game for Seattle.
It was Polanco, after all, who took Tigers ace Tarik Skubal deep twice in Game 2 of the ACLS, helping the Mariners rebound from their demoralizing home loss in Game 1.
The Detroit Tigers probably have the best pitcher in baseball. But the Seattle Mariners just might have the best pitchers. They needed all of them in Friday’s 15-inning win over Detroit.
Detroit manager A.J. Hinch decided to take Skubal out of the game after six stellar innings, which may be forgotten after a second full baseball game occurred after his departure.
Skubal was every bit as good as a former and future Cy Young Award winner should be, striking out 13 in his six innings and allowing just two hits and no walks. At one point he had struck out seven straight batters. But the Mariners did a good job battling him, and he needed 99 pitches to get through six innings.
His last pitch was a 101-mph fastball to strike out Raleigh.
Skubal’s replacement Kyle Finnergan gave up a run on Leo Rivas’ single, tying the game and setting up a game of attrition that would see each side use three starting pitchers in addition to all of their capable relievers. Besides Polanco, it is the pitchers whose heroics should be remembered in future discussions in Seattle bar rooms.
It was a reputation restoring game for a crew that fell apart in Game 4 with a sizable lead, leading to this rubber match. Two shutdown innings from Matt Brash. A dominant and badly-needed 2⅔ scoreless innings from Eduard Bazardo, who struck out four batters.
The last time the Mariners made the playoffs the season ended with the longest game in postseason history at 18 innings. This time they advance on the longest winner-take-all game ever played in the MLB playoffs.
While Raleigh and Rodriguez were among the best position players in baseball throughout the regular season, it has been Polanco delivering clutch hits in the postseason. Raleigh and Rodriguez each had many chances to win the game with their bats, but combined for just one hit and six strikeouts.