Zach McKinstry RBI single in 11th sinks Seattle Mariners in 3-2 loss to Tigers in Game 1 of ALDS

SEATTLE - Zach McKinstry's two-out RBI single off reliever Carlos Vargas in the 11th inning served as the crushing blow for the Seattle Mariners in a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the AL Division Series on Saturday night.

Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh combined for six hits against Tigers' pitching, with Rodríguez driving in both runs for Seattle on a solo home run in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the sixth, but no other Mariner recorded a hit over 11 innings.

A lead-off walk to Spencer Torkelson by Vargas in the 11th was followed with a spiked pitch in the dirt that allowed Torkelson to advance to second. Vargas bounced back with strikeouts of Wenceel Pérez and Dillon Dingler, but the extra base came back to bite as McKinstry's two-out single delivered the winning run for Detroit.

Rodríguez gave the Mariners hope with a two-out single off Keider Montero in the bottom of the inning, but Josh Naylor grounded out to first base to preserve the 3-2 result for Detroit and a 1-0 lead in the series.

"One of our strengths is bouncing back and we have to do that," manager Dan Wilson said. "

Now Seattle has to respond against likely AL Cy Young award winner and Seattle University alum Tarik Skubal in Game 2 on Sunday evening to avoid heading to Detroit down 2-0 in the series.

"It's huge," said Tigers right fielder Kerry Carpenter, who hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning for Detroit. "To get a win before the best pitcher in the world pitches is pretty special, and I feel like Skubal is made for these moments, so he's going to be at his best.

Rodríguez gave the Mariners their first run in a home playoff game in 24 years with a solo home run to center field off Troy Melton to lead off the fourth inning. Rodríguez drove a 97 mph fastball at the top of the strike zone into the second row of seats in center field for a 1-0 Mariners lead.

The home run snapped a streak of 26 consecutive scoreless postseason innings at home for the Mariners dating back to the 2001 ALCS against the New York Yankees. Stan Javier, who is now 61 years old, hit a fourth-inning home run off Mike Mussina as the last postseason run for the Mariners in Seattle. The Mariners didn't score a run in a 1-0 loss in 18 innings to the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS.

"Obviously, the fans were definitely really loud out there," Rodríguez said. "They were bringing it. They were really bringing it."

Meanwhile, George Kirby escaped jams in the second and third innings before Detroit managed to breakthrough in the fifth to grab the lead.

Parker Meadows reached on a one-out single off Kirby in the fifth inning. Kirby was on the verge of another scoreless inning when Kerry Carpenter hammered a 1-2 sinker above the strike zone from Kirby deep into the right field seats for a two-run homer and a 2-1 Tigers lead.

Carpenter is now 5-for-11 lifetime against Kirby with all five hits being home runs.

"The heaters up was working all day and he finally got to one," Kirby said. "Just tip your cap. I executed the way I wanted to. I'm not going to go back and forth in my head if that's the right pitch or not. I threw it, I was convicted in it, and he hit a homer."

Kirby finished the fifth inning, getting a groundout to shortstop from Spencer Torkelson after a two-out single from Riley Greene. Kirby finished with two runs allowed on six hits with a walk and eight strikeouts over five innings for Seattle.

"George gave us the 94 (pitches) and threw a great ball game and gave us a chance there," Wilson said.

Left-hander Caleb Ferguson immediately walked pitch-hitter Jahmai Jones to lead-off the inning. A soft fly ball from Dillon Dingler to shallow right field was unable to be gloved by second baseman Jorge Polanco, but right fielder Victor Robles followed up with a quick retrieval and throw to second base to get the force out on Jones for the first out of the inning. 

Zach McKinstry flew out to center fielder before Eduard Bazardo replaced Ferguson and got Javier Báez to pop out to second base to end the inning.

Former Mariner Rafael Montero took the mound for the sixth for the Tigers and Seattle jumped on him quickly. Montero issued a lead-off walk to Randy Arozarena, who then aggressively went first-to-third on a single to center field by Cal Raleigh to put runners on the corners with no outs. Julio Rodríguez came through again with an RBI single to right field that drove in Arozarena to tie the game at 2-2.

Seattle chased Montero without recording an out as left-hander Tyler Holton came in to pitch for Detroit. Holton got Josh Naylor to ground into a double play as Raleigh advanced to third, but a fly out to right field by Jorge Polanco kept the Mariners from taking the lead.

J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena each had deep fly balls off right-hander Kyle Finnegan die on the warning track for Seattle in the eighth inning. A two-out single from Raleigh for his third hit of the game put a runner on for the Mariners, but Rodríguez meekly waived over strike three to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Seattle's bullpen was stellar in relief of Kirby. Ferguson, Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz didn't allow a hit with just two walks and four strikeouts over the final four innings as the game went to extra innings.

Muñoz went a second inning in the 10th, which featured strikeouts of Carpenter (looking) and Greene (swinging).

"Those guys have done such a great job for us all season long, did a great job tonight," Wilson said. "Muny being able to get two innings there was really big. He was super efficient and attacked the zone and got ahead, so a really nice job there. … I thought all of our guys coming out of the bullpen tonight threw the ball extremely well." 

The Mariners couldn't generate anything against former Seattle reliever Will Vest in the ninth or tenth inning either, as the game moved to the 11th.

Seattle had 14 games of 11-plus innings this season, which was the most in all of MLB. The Mariners were 9-5 in those 14 games, but were unable to get their 10th such victory this year.

"It's difficult, but we've got to get ready for tomorrow," Rodríguez said. "There's nothing we can change about tonight and we've got to get ready for tomorrow and we've got a new ball game to win."

The Mariners are still looking for their first home playoff victory since a 3-1 win over the Cleveland Indians in Game 5 of the 2001 ALDS. In the current Division Series format, teams that lose Game 1 at home are just 12-of-46 in advancing to the ALCS, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com.

The Mariners beat Skubal twice this season, two of just six losses he took all season long. Seattle scored three runs off him in 5 ⅔ innings pitched on April 2 in a 3-2 Mariners' win, and four runs off Skubal over five innings in a 12-3 victory just before the All-Star break on July 11.

"Skubal is a guy that obviously we have seen a couple of times this year," Wilson said. "He's thrown the ball well in Cleveland (in the Wild Card series) and we've got to come out tomorrow and come right back at him and bounce back. Our guys are good at that. That's what they do and I think we'll be ready."

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