SEATTLE — In his first playoff game as a big league manager, Dan Wilson stuck with his starter and got stung.
Less than 24 hours later, he found himself right back in the same situation. This time, the script had a different ending, in what ended up as a 3-2 Mariners win over the Tigers on Sunday to level the American League Division Series at one game apiece.
“Itâ€s almost deja vu all over again,†the Mariners skipper quipped after it was all said and done.
For the second straight night, the Mariners took a 1-0 lead on a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. For the second straight night, Seattleâ€s starter danced around traffic for four frames before running into another jam with two outs and Detroitâ€s Kerry Carpenter — who slugged 23 of his 26 regular-season home runs against right-handers — due up in the fifth. For the second straight night, Gabe Speier was ready and warm in the Seattle bullpen.
Saturday, Wilson opted to keep George Kirby in the game to finish the frame, and Carpenter made him pay with a two-run homer. Sunday, with runners on the corners, he pressed the other button.
“They just called down and said ‘Get ready,†and I assumed it was for Carpenter,†Speier said. “Thatâ€s it. When they tell me to get ready, I just go.â€
So with Luis Castillo on 85 pitches and only one hit allowed, Wilson gave him the quick hook. Speier entered, jumped ahead 0-2 on back-to-back sinkers and a pitch later blew a 96.1 mph four-seamer straight past Carpenterâ€s bat to get the Mariners back in the dugout.
“Gabe came in … [and] just continued to pound the zone as he does and really attack, and to be able to do it in that situation again, get us back in the dugout, keep that lead,†Wilson said.
Speier said that most of his direction for how his usage will go on any given night comes early in the game, from bullpen coach Tony Arnerich. Sunday, the message was simple: Be ready early.
The Tigers rolled with the same lineup as they had in Game 1, with Carpenter and Riley Greene as back-to-back lefties in the second and third slots, respectively. Lefty Colt Keith hit fifth; Saturday, as soon as a left-hander entered the game to pitch, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch pulled him for a righty.
There was some thought that had Wilson gone to Speier on Saturday, it would have forced Hinch to pull his No. 2 hitter midway through the game. Sunday, that proved to be false hope, but it worked out anyway. Carpenter came up once more — against Matt Brash — and struck out looking.
“I chose to keep Carp in the game for the fact that we had so much game left, rather than make that move,†Hinch said. “… I thought he had some good swings. But obviously Speier got him tonight.â€
There was a ton of game left, indeed, and while the move to Speier worked perfectly in the short term, it led to a new quandary for Wilson: Twelve more outs to cover in a must-win game with none of his high-leverage arms fresh, after all had been used in Saturdayâ€s 11-inning gut punch of a loss.
It wouldnâ€t be a problem.
Speier had started the train of back-to-backs, and pushed it to full-speed by going back out for another inning of work in the sixth, striking out Green and retiring Spencer Torkelson and pinch-hitter Wenceel Pérez for his second four-out night in a row.
“I feel good,†Speier said. “A little sore today, but the adrenaline, the atmosphere, it puts it in the back of your mind and lets you go out and compete.â€
From there, Wilson rolled out the rest of his top guys. Eduard Bazardo, whose three-pitch workload Saturday was the lightest of the groupâ€s, threw 19 in the seventh. Brash had the toughest time, though a crucial error at first by Josh Naylor made it so only one of the two runs he allowed was earned. But because of Julio RodrÃguezâ€s heroics in the very next frame, he ended up earning the win.
Andrés Muñoz, a day after pitching two full innings for the first time in six years, slammed the door in the ninth to earn his first career postseason save.
Now, the Mariners are headed to Detroit in a tied series, despite only getting a combined 9 2/3 innings from their starters.
“All year, the bullpen has been phenomenal, and that gives us a lot more confidence,†Castillo said, via translator Freddy Llanos. “We know that when we exit the game, these guys are going to do a great job, come out and finish the game for us.â€
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.