Cal Raleigh, Logan Gilbert lead Seattle Mariners to 8-4 win over Tigers in Game 3 of ALDS

Cal Raleigh hit a two-run home run as part of a three-RBI night, Logan Gilbert tossed six innings of one-run ball and the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers 8-4 in Game 3 of the AL Division Series.

The Mariners are now one win away from their first trip to the AL Championship Series in 24 years with Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday in Detroit.

Raleigh had an RBI single in the fourth inning, and a two-run home run off Detroit reliever Brenan Hanifee in the eighth as the Mariners built an 8-1 lead.

A rocky ninth inning effort from Caleb Ferguson made it mildly uncomfortable for Seattle as manager Dan Wilson had to turn to Andrés Muñoz to close out the game.

"Just a lot of grind-them-out at-bats," manager Dan Wilson said. "When you look at Josh Naylor and what that at-bat looked like in the second inning, 11 pitches or whatever it was, just grinding it out, fouling them off. You don't see the immediate result but you do see it down the line and that's what I think happened tonight."

J.P. Crawford also went 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBI as well as Seattle's offense came to life against Tigers' starter Jack Flaherty.

The Mariners made Flaherty work hard in the second inning as his pitch count began to soar. An 11-pitch at-bat from Josh Naylor and a walk from Eugenio Suarez led to a 30-pitch inning for the Tigers' starter.

Then in the third inning, Victor Robles pounced on an inside breaking ball that hung in the strike zone for a lead-off double into the left field corner. Crawford followed with a flared single into shallow center field that should have put runners at the corners. However, Riley Greene's throw into the infield wasn't cut off by Zach McKinstry and then caromed through catcher Dingler. 

Robles sprinted for home and just beat the throw for a 1-0 Mariners lead. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch challenged the ruling, but the call was confirmed after review.

Crawford advanced to second on the error and scored on a Randy Arozarena single through the infield for a 2-0 Seattle lead.

"It feels great but we just have to focus on tomorrow," Crawford said. "It's a big game and can't have any distractions. We've got to be all-in tomorrow."

Raleigh followed with a walk as the Mariners continued to apply pressure to Flaherty with two on and no outs and two runs already in. Flaherty bounced back with strikeouts of Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco, and a deep fly ball from Naylor allowed the Tigers to escape further damage. Naylor's fly out would have been a home run in 11 ballparks, including T-Mobile Park. 

But after 26 more pitches, Flaherty's pitch count already had climbed to 63 through three innings.

A two-out double from Gleyber Torres put a runner in scoring position for Detroit in the bottom half of the inning as they looked to bounce back, but Gilbert forced Colt Keith to fly out to center field to keep the Tigers off the board.

Suárez then immediately extended the lead, crushing a fastball from Flaherty deep into the left field seats for a solo home run to lead-off the fourth inning. Dominic Canzone followed with a walk off Flaherty and his day would end after a strikeout of Victor Robles.

Tommy Kahnle replaced Flaherty and immediately issued a walk to Crawford before an RBI single by Raleigh through the infield made it a 4-0 Mariners lead.

Flaherty final line for Detroit: 3 ⅓ innings pitched, four runs, three earned on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts on 76 pitches with 48 strikes.

The Tigers finally pushed back in the fifth inning against Gilbert in his toughest inning. Gilbert hit Dillon Dingler with a full count pitch that would have been a walk regardless. After a sacrifice bunt, Javier Báez singled to right field to put runners on the corners.

Kerry Carpenter worked the count full before grounding sharply to second base. Naylor was unable to hold onto Crawford's relay throw on the double play attempt at first as Dingler scored for Detroit to trim the lead to 4-1. 

Gilbert answered with a groundout to first base for Torres to keep the Seattle lead at three.

Crawford then restored the lead to four for Seattle. Crawford launched an 0-1 sweeper with two outs from Hurter deep to right field for a solo home run to make it a 5-1 Mariners lead. It's the first home run by a left-handed hitter against Hurter this year and just the second of his career (Zach DeLoach – Chicago White Sox, 9/24/2024).

Gilbert bounced back with a clean and quick sixth inning for the Mariners. Strikeouts of Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson around a pop out to third from Greene allowed Gilbert to exit after a terrific six innings.

"I felt pretty good," Gilbert said. "The key is getting ahead and honestly I didn't do a great job of that, but after that it felt like I was able to make pitches when I needed to. In a game like this, you just don't want to get deep counts all the time and beat yourself and walk guys. So I tried to just force contact, make them swing it, and defense played great behind me."

Gilbert finished with just the one run allowed on four hits with no walks, a hit batter and seven strikeouts.

"I can't say enough about what Logan did tonight," Wilson said. "Just an incredible outing. Really had everything going. His slider was outstanding. His split was outstanding. Some good fastballs. … What he gave us to get through a tough lineup, you've got to love getting that here, especially late in the year."

Tigers' reliever Keider Montero hit pinch-hitter Luke Raley with a pitch to put a runner on for Seattle in the eighth. Carpenter dropped a fly ball to right from Robles that allowed Raley to go first-to-third and Robles to reach second on the error. Crawford's sacrifice fly drove in Raley to extend the lead to 6-1 Seattle.

"We had a good day 1-through 9," Crawford said. "And that's the team that we are. We create chaos and just keep the line moving." 

Matt Brash and Eduard Bazardo cruised through the seventh and eighth innings for Seattle, and Raleigh's blast in the ninth made it a seven-run lead.

"Some really good at-bats up and down the lineup," Wilson said. "Using the middle of the field. Yes, we hit a couple homers, which is great. Geno getting on the board there with a homer, Cal with the opposite way. J.P.'s homer was big to get the run back after we'd given it up, but we also scored ‘conventionally.' To get some guys on base, use the middle of the field, Cal going up the middle to get an RBI, Randy going up the middle, J.P. going the other way, just a lot of great at-bats.

"That's what it takes and when these guys do that, that's a more consistent offense."

With the cushion, Wilson went to Caleb Ferguson to try and give Gabe Speier and Muñoz the night off. Instead, Ferguson imploded and couldn't get an out, forcing Muñoz to come in for the save anyway.

A lead-off single from pinch-hitter Jake Rogers and a walk to pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones forced Muñoz to stir in Seattle's bullpen. Torkelson drove a double into the right field corner that scored both runs to trim the lead to 8-3 with no outs. Pinch-hitter Andy Ibáñez followed with an RBI single to score Torkelson and cut the lead to 8-4.

Wilson then turned to Muñoz, who got Dingler to fly out to left field before a liner from Parker Meadows was snared by Naylor, who was able to double off Ibáñez at first base to end the game and give the Mariners the lead in the series.

"Not ideal," Wilson said. "You don't want to have to use your closer there, but I give Muny a lot of credit for coming in there and slamming the door."

The start time for Game 4 on Thursday is currently scheduled for 12:08 p.m. PT, but will move to 4:08 p.m. PT if the Toronto Blue Jays complete a sweep of the New York Yankees later on Tuesday night.

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