DETROIT — The road to the American League Championship Series just got a lot longer, and a lot harder, for the Mariners.
The Mariners lost a three-run lead in the fifth inning and lost momentum in their AL Division Series matchup against the Detroit Tigers, dropping Game 4 by a 9-3 final Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park.
Facing elimination, the Tigers scored nine unanswered runs, and they’ll turn to reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, the Seattle U Hall of Fame lefty, to start the decisive Game 5 on Friday back in Seattle.
The Mariners beat Skubal in Game 2 on Sunday back home at T-Mobile Park, after beating him twice during the regular season.
That made the Mariners the first team to beat Skubal three times in a season in his six-year MLB career. They’ll have to beat him a fourth time Friday or their season is over.
The Mariners bullpen, so stout in the first three games of the series, was roughed up for seven earned runs in 3-2/3 innings, surrendering three homers over two innings as the Tigers took control.
Gabe Speier, one of MLB’s most effective left-handed relievers this year, relieved Bryce Miller in the fifth inning and coughed up a 3-1 lead, allowing two runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones doubled on the first pitch he saw from Speier, a fastball down in the zone, driving in a run to cut the Mariners’ lead to 3-2.
Javier Báez followed with a sharp single to bring in Jones and tie the score at 3-3, energizing a sleepy Tigers crowd that had been quiet for much of the past two days.
Riley Greene’s 454-foot home run leading off the sixth inning, turning on a slider Speier left hanging over the middle of the plate.
That gave the Tigers a 4-3 lead.
Báez added a two-run homer off Eduard Bazardo in the sixth inning and Gleyber Torres added a solo shot off Carlos Vargas in the seventh.
This story will be updated.