10/5/22

Mariners 5, Tigers 4

(Seattle, WA) Wednesday was the final day of the 2022 MLB season and it felt a little weird because there were no playoff spots up for grabs. We knew where everyone would be playing in the postseason already but the good news was the Mariners would be playing in the playoffs. This game was about staying healthy and getting momentum. The Mariners would do just that as they would walk off the Detroit Tigers to take the four-game series and give the team a three game winning streak headed into the Wild Card series.

Marco Gonzales was tasked with going as far as he possibly could and ONCE AGAIN Marco did just that while giving his team a shot to win. After only needing eight pitches in the top of the 1st, the offense came out firing in the bottom of the 1st. Julio Rodriguez crushed a solo home run on the second pitch from Tyler Alexander. It was J-Rod’s 28th home run of his rookie season and the M’s had a 1-0 lead. That lead grew two batters later when Mitch Haniger joined in on the fun by driving a fastball on the inside corner to left for a solo shot and his 11th long ball of the year. Just like that the Mariners had a 2-0 lead.

2-0 would still be the score heading into the top of the 4th. Marco got in some trouble after two quick outs as Spencer Torkelson drew a walk and reached third when Eric Haase hit his 17th double of the season. With runners now on second and third, Jeimer Candelario hit a weak chopper to third. Abraham Toro would get to it and tried to get it to first, but the throw would have been late and it was offline as it went wide of Ty France at first. The error allowed Haase to score behind Torkelson and the Tigers had tied the game at 2-2.

More weak contact would haunt the Mariners in the top of the 5th. Brendon Davis drew a leadoff walk and stole second but the Mariners and Marco Gonzales had a couple of outs and a chance to strand a runner. Javy Baez was jammed and hit one of the softest hits of his career that would slowly roll into right field to beat the shift. Davis scored easily and Detroit had a 3-2 lead.

The bottom of the 6th led to some more power from the Mariners. Mitch Haniger drew a walk to begin the inning. After Carlos Santana flew out, the Mariner MVP of the series Luis Torrens stepped to the plate and stayed scorching hot. Torrens launched his third home run of the season with a two run shot into the bullpen. Torrens had given the M’s a 4-3 lead.

Marco’s final inning would be the 7th but the Tigers would not let him ride off into the sunset. Brendon Davis singled to start the inning and moved to third on a one out single by Akil Baddoo. Kody Clemens flew out to Kelenic in center for a big second out but promising Detroit center fielder Riley Greene singled to center to tie the game at 4-4. Gonzales finished the inning and gave the M’s 7 innings to take the pressure off of the bullpen. It was a solid effort to bring the regular season to a close and give the bullpen a chance to rest up for the postseason.

Paul Sewald and Erik Swanson sat down all six batters they faced in the 8th and 9th while striking out five of them to send it to the bottom of the 9th tied at 4-4. After Abraham Toro flew out to start the inning, Gregory Soto fell apart for Detroit. Curt Casali walked and J.P. Crawford grounded one right back to Soto but the throw to second was spiked for an E1 to put runners on first and second with one out. A wild pitch moved the runners up and Jarred Kelenic walked to load the bases. Ty France had to avoid hitting into a double play but he would do more than that. The Mariner first baseman had a typical Ty France hit slapping a grounder the other way into right field for a base hit. Casali scored and the Mariners ended the regular season with a walk-off win over Detroit 5-4.

The Seattle Mariners finish the 2022 regular season with a record of 90-72 for the second straight season. The good news is that the record was good enough for a Wild Card berth this season and the Mariners will now head to Toronto to start the three-game Wild Card series with the Blue Jays on Friday at 1:07pm. Luis Castillo (8-6, 2.99 ERA) will get the ball in the first Mariner playoff game since October 22nd, 2001 and tries to get the team in a strong spot to start the series. Alek Manoah (16-7, 2.24 ERA) will start for Toronto and looks to build off a very strong month of September for the Jays. We will have a playoff series preview coming out on Friday morning.

Notable Performences

Tigers

• Riley Greene- 2-4, RBI
• Jeimer Candelario- 2-4, RBI
• Tyler Alexander (ND)- 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

Mariners

• Mitch Haniger- 2-3, HR, RBI, 2 R, BB
• Luis Torrens- 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Marco Gonzales (ND)- 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO

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