DETROIT – His splitfinger fastball – statistically one of the best strikeout pitches in all of Major League Baseball – was fired with complete conviction and cruel intentions.
Logan Gilbert didn’t want it to be his last pitch of the night, not with the way he was executing. But if his final pitch of the sixth inning was going to be the last of his outing, it was going to be nasty and not hittable – a punctuation mark to a stellar pitching performance.
Gilbert unfurled his 6-foot-7 frame in that familiar herky-jerky windup with the baseball jammed between his two pencil-length fingers. The ball started out on a belt-high trajectory and disappeared toward Spencer Torkelson’s back foot, leaving him helpless in a 1-2 count. He flailed at the pitch, missing it by 8 inches.
The crowd of 41,525 at Comerica Park, still damp from a near three-hour rain delay before Game 3 of the American League Division Series and chilled by evening temps in the mid-50s, groaned in disbelief, with many disgustedly heading for the exits.
Seeing the flawless execution, Gilbert’s face contorted into a glaring sneer and a strut as he headed for the Mariners dugout.
Walter was back with impunity. Gilbert’s commonly known alter ego helped move the Mariners to a win away from the American League Championship Series.
Given what transpired late in the game, maybe it shouldn’t have been Gilbert’s final pitch. Regardless, his strong start – one of his best of what has been a frustrating season – set the tone early and carried the Mariners to what was a relatively decisive 8-4 victory over the Tigers.
Gilbert pitched six innings, allowing only one run on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts to get a deserved win.
“It was vintage Logan,” said manager Dan Wilson. “He attacked the zone. He got into good counts. And he let the split and the slider do his work for him. To get that from him on the road. He answered the call tonight, no question about it, and it was what we needed.”
Vintage Logan?
Logan is a nice guy with a dry sense of humor. Walter is a batter bully, who doesn’t want to beat you, he wants to dominate you to the point of embarrassment.
“He’s a cold-blooded killer when he steps on the mound,” said J.P. Crawford. “That’s why his name is Walter. That sounds like a scary name to me. No offense to the Walters out there. But you saw it tonight. From pitch one to pitch 85, he was coming at their throat. You need that type of mentality.”
You need that type of mentality to win playoff games on the road. Gilbert relied heavily on his slider and splitfinger, keeping Detroit hitters off balance and chasing balls out of the zone.
“It’s not easy with what Gilbert was throwing up there.,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “Not many fastballs, a lot of sliders and splits. And we were swinging more and more as the game went on, we had a really hard time putting back-to-back at-bats together that were productive.”
When Cal Raleigh smashed a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to left-center to make it 8-1, the slow exodus of orange-clad fans that started after Gilbert finished the sixth inning turned en masse.
With a seven-run lead, and having used Matt Brash in the seventh and Eduard Bazardo in the eighth, Wilson went to Caleb Ferguson to find three outs in the ninth to the end game.
The veteran lefty found zero, giving up three runs and forcing Wilson to bring in closer Andres Muñoz to finish it.
“Not ideal,” Wilson said. “You don’t want to have to use your closer right there. But I give Muny a lot of credit for coming in there and slamming the door. Not an easy situation.”
When Josh Naylor made a leaping grab on a line drive off the bat of Parker Meadows and then calmly stepped on first to double off Any Ibañez, the self-created drama in the ninth came to an end.
With a 2-1 lead in the ALDS, the Mariners are achingly close to returning to the ALCS for the first time since 2001.
“It feels great, but you just have to focus on tomorrow,” Crawford said. “It’s a big game, and we have to be all in tomorrow. No distractions.”
After a flexor strain in April stole seven weeks of his season, and the return was a little shaky has he tried to regain his form, Gilbert looked like the All-Star pitcher in 2024 that was named the opening day starter this season.
The Mariners picked up their first run off Flaherty in the third inning, aided by a silly error from the Tigers.
Victor Robles led off with a double to left. When Crawford dumped a single into shallow left field, Robles made a conservative read before advancing on the single, happy to move to third base. But he was able to race home when Riley Greene’s throw in from left field was wayward. Third baseman Zach McKinstry watched the ball roll by him. Forced to field it unexpectedly, catcher Dillon Dingler misplayed it, allowing it roll between his legs toward the backstop.
Seeing what transpired, Robles took off for home while Flaherty raced after the ball, flipping it to Dingler cover the plate.
Robles slid in just before Dingler’s tag in a play that was close enough to be reviewed. The safe call was confirmed and the Mariners had their first run.
Randy Arozarena made it 2-0, punching a single up the middle that scored Crawford from second. When Flaherty walked Raleigh to put runners on first and second, the Mariners seemed poised to break the game open and knock Flaherty out of the game.
Instead the veteran right-hander prolonged his outing momentarily, striking out Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco for two big outs. Naylor’s deep fly ball to right-center, measuring 394 feet, was caught by Parker Meadows to end the inning.
Flaherty was reeling and the Mariners allowed him to escape the second. But he wouldn’t finish the third.
Hitless in the series, Eugenio Suárez clobbered a solo homer off Flaherty to lead off the inning. After walking Crawford, Flaherty came back to strike out Robles. With his starter already at 76 pitches, Hinch had seen enough. He went to his bullpen.
Veteran right-hander Tommy Kahnle, the man of many change-ups, walked Crawford and struck out Arozarena. But Raleigh made it 4-0, sending a hard ground ball into center field to score Dominic Canzone.
Gilbert’s lone run allowed came in the fifth when Dingler led off with a single and later scored when Crawford couldn’t complete an expected, inning-ending double play, bouncing a throw to Naylor.
Crawford made up for the mistake, swatting a solo homer in the next inning and adding a sac fly in the eighth.