Browsing: homers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani has propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers back to the World Series with a two-way performance for the ages.

Ohtani hit three mammoth homers and struck out 10 while pitching into the seventh inning, and the Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers out of the NL Championship Series with a 5-1 victory in Game 4 on Friday night.

The Dodgers will have a chance to be baseballâ€s first repeat World Series champions in a quarter-century after this mind-blowing night for the three-time MVP Ohtani, who emphatically ended a quiet postseason by his lofty standards. Ohtani was named the NLCS MVP essentially on the strength of this one unforgettable game.

“It was really fun on both sides of the ball today,†Ohtani said through his interpreter. “As a representative (of the team), Iâ€m taking this trophy, and letâ€s get four more wins.â€

After striking out three in the top of the first inning of Game 4, Ohtani hit the first leadoff homer by a pitcher in major league history off Brewers starter José Quintana.

Ohtani followed with a 469-foot blast in the fourth, clearing a pavilion roof in right-center.

Ohtani added a third solo shot in the seventh, becoming the 12th player in major league history to hit three homers in a playoff game. His three homers traveled a combined 1,342 feet.

Ohtani (2-0) also thoroughly dominated the Brewers in his second career postseason mound start, allowing two hits in his first double-digit strikeout game in a Dodgers uniform.

“Sometimes youâ€ve got to check yourself and touch him to make sure heâ€s not just made of steel,†said Freddie Freeman, last seasonâ€s World Series MVP. “Absolutely incredible. Biggest stage, and he goes out and does something like that. Itâ€ll probably be remembered as the Shohei Ohtani game.â€

After the Brewers†first two batters reached in the seventh, he left the mound to a stadium-shaking ovation — and after Alex Vesia escaped the jam, Ohtani celebrated by hitting his third homer in the bottom half.

The powerhouse Dodgers are the first team to win back-to-back pennants since Philadelphia in 2009. Los Angeles is back in the World Series for the fifth time in nine seasons, and it will attempt to become baseballâ€s first repeat champs since the New York Yankees won three straight World Series from 1998 to 2000.

“That was special,†Freeman said. “Weâ€ve just been playing really good baseball for a while now, and the inevitable kind of happened today — Shohei. Oh my God. Iâ€m still speechless.â€

After capping a 9-1 rampage through the NL playoffs with this singular performance by Ohtani, the Dodgers are headed to the World Series for the 23rd time in franchise history, including 14 pennants since moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Only the Yankees, last yearâ€s opponent, have made more appearances in the Fall Classic (41).

Los Angeles will have a week off before the World Series begins next Friday, either in Toronto or at Dodger Stadium against Seattle. The Mariners beat the Blue Jays 6-2 earlier Friday to take a 3-2 lead in the ALCS, which continues Sunday at Rogers Centre.

The Dodgers had never swept an NLCS in 16 previous appearances, but they became only the fifth team to sweep this series while thoroughly dominating a 97-win Milwaukee club. Los Angeles is the first team to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series since 2022, and the first to sweep an NLCS since Washington in 2019.

“Iâ€ll tell you, before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,†Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts shouted to the crowd during the on-field celebration. “Letâ€s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!â€

The NL Central champion Brewers were eliminated by the Dodgers for the third time during their current stretch of seven playoff appearances in eight years. Even after setting a franchise record for wins this season, Milwaukee is still waiting for its first World Series appearance since 1982.

“We were part of tonight an iconic, maybe the best individual performance ever in a postseason game,†Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “I donâ€t think anybody can argue with that. A guy punches out 10 and hits three homers.â€

The Brewers had never been swept in a playoff series longer than a best-of-three, but their bats fell silent in the NLCS against the Dodgers†brilliant starting rotation. Los Angeles†four starters combined to pitch 28 2/3 innings with two earned runs allowed and 35 strikeouts.

The Dodgers added two more runs in the first after Ohtaniâ€s tone-setting homer, with Mookie Betts and Will Smith both singling and scoring.

Jackson Chourio doubled leading off the fourth for Milwaukeeâ€s first hit, but Ohtani stranded him with a groundout and two strikeouts.

Struggling Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen allowed two more baserunners in the eighth, and Caleb Durbin scored when Brice Turang beat out his potential double-play grounder before Anthony Banda ended the inning.

Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth in the latest successful relief outing for the Dodgers†unlikely closer.

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SEATTLE – Blue Jays manager John Schneider had the thought as his team boarded the 2,500-mile flight from Toronto to Seattle on Monday night, following losses in the first two games of the American League Championship Series against the Mariners.

“I hope we find some slug in the air out here.â€

Leave it to his superstar to lead the way and make some franchise history in the process.

“Like I say always, I believe in God and I believe in this team,†Guerrero said on FOX postgame. “When you play one day at a time, one at-bat at a time, something big can happen. To us, we came here and tried to win the series. We got two, and tomorrow weâ€ve got to try and find a way to win the next one.â€

Guerreroâ€s Statcast-projected 359-foot blast out to right-center field in the seventh inning was his fifth of the postseason, breaking a tie with José Bautista (2015) for most in a single postseason in Blue Jays history.

It was also Guerreroâ€s 15th hit of the postseason following his single in the third inning. Heâ€s just the fourth player with 15-plus hits and five-plus home runs in his first eight games of a single postseason, joining:

“Let’s be honest, with the contract comes a lot of extracurriculars,†Schneider said. “He’s met them head on. I think the pitches he swung at in Games 1 and 2 were the right pitches to swing at, but I think he was a little bit overanxious and it led to some ground balls.

“Vladdy a couple years ago might have been a little stubborn. Vladdy right now, in this moment in 2025, has the ability to take a step back, process what he’s doing, then he leans into his teammates and leans into his coaches. He’s made some adjustments. That was a big swing.”

Following an 0-for-7 start to the ALCS, Guerrero is wide awake now, having gone 6-for-9 in the past two games. And the rest of the lineup has followed with its normal gritty at-bats that can grind down an opposing pitching staff.

Second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa didnâ€t know he was going to be in the lineup when he woke up Thursday, but with Anthony Santander dealing with a lingering back injury and now off the ALCS roster, the Blue Jays moved Addison Barger to right field on Thursday, Ernie Clement to third base and inserted Kiner-Falefa in at second base.

Kiner-Falefa sent a double into left field to begin the third inning and a Toronto rally. And for the second consecutive night, No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez hit the game-flipping home run. His two-run blast in the third inning turned the Blue Jays†one-run deficit into a one-run lead they never relinquished.

“Iâ€m not going to hit homers every day,†Giménez said. “I was just trying to move the runner over, and I hit it pretty well. … The guys like me need to get on base for George [Springer], Vladdy, [Nathan] Lukes. Thatâ€s our game.â€

“That’s just us, you know?†Schneider said.

Kiner-Falefa added: “My job for this team is to be ready if someone was to get injured. That could be during the game, before the game. I just went at it how I go out every day, ready for any opportunity. … For me nothing changes, just going at it the same way every day until I get that opportunity.â€

And Guerrero did what he does best to add to the lead late.

Whatever this offense found as the series shifted to Seattle this week, itâ€s gotten them back in this thing. They donâ€t want to slow down now.

“We have a really good approach as a team,†Giménez said. “We all commit to it. And itâ€s really good when we execute that way.â€

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SEATTLE — It was a party that this region hasnâ€t seen in 24 years, and Julio Rodríguez got it started in a big way on Wednesday night.

The Mariners†star center fielder blasted a two-run homer during the first inning of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Blue Jays, hammering a middle-in fastball from Shane Bieber into the home bullpen and sending T-Mobile Park into bedlam.

Wednesdayâ€s contest was just the sixth ALCS game in the ballparkâ€s history and first since 2001. The Mariners obviously lost that series to the Yankees and remain MLBâ€s only team thatâ€s never played in the World Series. With a commanding 2-0 series lead in this best-of-seven round, theyâ€re in a favorable position to advance — but they continue to preach urgency, with Rodríguezâ€s first-inning homer being a prime example.

The ball scorched off Rodríguezâ€s bat at 112.2 mph and sailed 414 feet, nicking the out-of-town scoreboard beyond left field before dropping in front of his reliever teammates. And it scored Randy Arozarena, too, who led off with a walk then stole second base to put Bieber on the ropes.

The Mariners have now scored 18 of their 34 runs in these playoffs via homers, after ranking second in MLB during the regular season by scoring via their homers at a 50% clip. Rodríguez also went deep during the first inning of Game 2 with a three-run shot that proved vital, given how Toronto mounted momentum shortly after and eventually tied that game in the second against Logan Gilbert. The Blue Jays also went on to score five runs in the third inning against George Kirby in Wednesday’s Game 3.

In Seattleâ€s limited postseason history, Wednesdayâ€s homer was just its fifth in the first inning — and Rodríguez now accounts for two of those in the past two games alone. The other three were from Cal Raleigh, Edgar Martinez and Mike Cameron.

In these playoffs, and after his first at-bat on Wednesday, Rodríguez is slugging .567 with a .910 OPS and eight RBIs through 30 at-bats, propelling from the torrid second half in which he was among MLBâ€s most productive players.

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TORONTO (AP) — Bryce Miller overcame a shaky first inning and gave the tired Seattle Mariners the start they needed in the AL Championship Series opener.

Miller pitched six sharp innings, Jorge Polanco hit a go-ahead single in the sixth and the Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 Sunday night as they returned to the ALCS for the first time in 24 years.

“The year, personally, didnâ€t go how I had planned and how I had hoped for but weâ€re in the ALCS and I got to go out there and set the tone,†Miller said. “I felt great.â€

Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh added a tying solo home run, his second homer of the postseason after leading the major leagues with 60 in the regular season.

“That was a big lift,†Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of Raleighâ€s drive in a two-run sixth.

George Springer homered on the first pitch from Miller, who then escaped a two-on jam in a 27-pitch first inning.

Anthony Santander singled in the second for Torontoâ€s only other hit, and Seattle pitchers retired 23 of the Blue Jays†final 24 batters. Miller, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz combined to throw just 100 pitches less than 48 hours after the Mariners needed 209 pitches to outlast Detroit over 15 innings.

“The job Bryce Miller did tonight was phenomenal,†Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “After that first inning, he went into a different gear. You saw him getting ahead, using all his stuff.â€

Miller, the winner, struck out three and walked three in six innings, throwing 76 pitches. The three relievers each had eight-pitch, 1-2-3 innings, with Muñoz getting the save.

Raleigh tied the score in the sixth with his ninth homer in 14 games at Rogers Centre. Kevin Gausman had held batters to 0 for 16 on splitters in the postseason before Raleighâ€s homer.

“I was trying to get bat on ball, really just trying to put something in play,†Raleigh said, wearing a T-shirt with the words: “JOBâ€S NOT FINISHED.†“I didnâ€t want to punch out again.â€

Polanco hit a go-ahead single later in the inning and added an RBI single in the eighth.

“Heâ€s been huge from both sides of the plate,†Raleigh said .

AL West champion Seattle traveled to AL East winner Toronto on Saturday after a 3-2 home victory over the Tigers on Friday to win the Division Series, the longest winner-take-all game in Major League Baseball history.

Seattle, the only MLB team to never host a World Series game, held Toronto to two hits after the Blue Jays had 50 hits and 34 runs in their four-game Division Series against the New York Yankees.

“Weâ€re a really good offense,†Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Today it just didnâ€t work out.â€

Torontoâ€s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 9 for 17 with three homers and nine RBIs against the Yankees but finished 0 for 4 Sunday with three groundouts.

“This is going to be a hard-fought series, man,†Schneider said. “These guys will be ready for it.â€

Springerâ€s 21st postseason home run broke a tie with the Yankees†Derek Jeter, moving him into sole possession of fifth place on the career list.

Raleighâ€s homer was his fourth in 15 at-bats against Gausman, who took the loss.

“Up to that point, Iâ€d been throwing the ball really well and had the game right there,†Gausman said. “This oneâ€s on me.â€

Gausman allowed two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.

“Great hitters capitalize on mistakes,†Schneider said. “That split from Kev just kind of leaked back over the middle a little bit.â€

Raleigh hit a one-out single off Gausman in the first and advanced to third on Julio Rodríguezâ€s base hit but was thrown out at the plate by third baseman Addison Barger on Polancoâ€s grounder.

Polanco, who had the game-ending single Friday, singled against Brendon Little to drive in Rodríguez, who had chased Gausman with a two-out walk.

Polanco added another RBI single against Seranthony Domínguez.

Eugenio Suárez doubled off the top of the right-field wall against Louis Varland in the seventh. The 395-foot drive would have been a homer in 15 of 30 big league ballparks, including Seattle.

Toronto outfielder Nathan Lukes left in the fourth inning. Lukes bruised his right knee when he fouled a pitch off it in the first inning. Schneider said X-rays were negative and said Lukes might return Monday.

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Blue Jays RHP Trey Yesavage will start Game 2 on Sunday afternoon. In his fourth big league appearance and first postseason start, Yesavage set a Blue Jays postseason record by striking out 11 Yankees in 5 1/3 hitless innings in Division Series Game 2 on Oct. 4. RHP Logan Gilbert will start for the Mariners, two days after throwing 34 pitches over two innings of relief.

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SEATTLE — The Mariners took George Kirby out. Kerry Carpenter didnâ€t care.

Carpenter, whose two-run homer off Kirby in Game 1 of the ALDS swung that game in Detroitâ€s favor, did it again in the sixth inning of the decisive Game 5, turning on a 1-0 fastball from Gabe Speier and drilling it a Statcast-projected 411 feet out to dead center to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead on Friday night.

Coming into the night, Carpenter had hit just one home run vs. a left-handed pitcher since April 9. In the regular season, he hit just .217 vs. southpaws.

And Mariners manager Dan Wilson knew that. He also knew that Carpenter has absolutely owned Kirby — the two knocks against him Friday pushed his career line vs. the Seattle right-hander to 7-for-13, with five home runs.

So with the series on the line, Wilson made the move he didn’t make in Game 1 — but did in Game 2 — bringing his lefty specialist in Speier in for Carpenterâ€s third at-bat of the game, after Kirby surrendered a double to Javier Báez to open the frame.

That knock in itself was dramatic, with Báez sending a slider over the outer half of the plate toward the left-center gap. Julio Rodríguez got to the ball before it could get by him, but Báez tested him anyways and dove into second base safely, just out of the reach of Jorge Polancoâ€s tag.

So with the tying run on base, Wilson came out for Kirby, hoping to quell the rally.

In Game 2, Speier struck out Carpenter swinging on a fastball over the heart of the plate. This time, Carpenter turned on the exact same pitch and turned the game on its head, flipping a 1-0 hole into a 2-1 lead with three and a half innings to play and Tarik Skubal on the mound making postseason strikeout history on the other side of things.

Carpenter became the seventh player to hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning or later while trailing in a winner-take-all playoff game, and just the fourth since 1980.

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LOS ANGELES — Kyle Schwarber homered twice, his first towering shot clearing the right-field pavilion in a three-run fourth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided a sweep with an 8-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday night.

It was the first Schwarbomb of the postseason for the NL’s leading home run hitter and the first allowed by the Dodgers in these playoffs. Schwarber snapped an 0-for-8 skid in the NLDS, slugging a 96 mph fastball from Yoshinobu Yamamoto 455 feet.

“It’s ridiculous how far that ball went,” Phillies shortstop Trea Turner said. “Sometimes it’s hard to create your own momentum, and you’ve got to build off things like that. No better way than the ball leaving the stadium.”

Schwarber became just the second player to homer over the pavilion, joining Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell, who did it in 1969 and 1973. Fans standing near the back railing pointed as the ball went out.

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“I didn’t even see where it landed,” Schwarber said. “I was looking in the dugout, trying to get the guys going.”

Schwarber’s 23 career postseason homers rank third all time and are the most among left-handers. Game 4 of the best-of-five series is Thursday at Dodger Stadium, with the Dodgers clinging to a 2-1 lead. Left-hander Cristopher Sanchez, who started Game 1 of the series, goes for the Phillies against Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who pitched 1â…” scoreless innings of relief in Game 1.

“It’s pretty close to being flushed already,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I feel good with where we’re at.”

After Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola pitched the first two innings, Ranger Suarez came in and allowed one run and five hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked one.

“Ranger did a fantastic job,” Schwarber said. “Kept everyone right there for us to eventually crack through and have a beginning.”

The Phillies tacked on five more runs in the eighth — including a solo shot by J.T. Realmuto and a two-run drive by Schwarber — off three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw in his first postseason relief appearance since 2019.

Six of the Phillies’ 12 hits came off Kershaw in his 18th and final season with the Dodgers before retiring at season’s end.

“I was battling command,” Kershaw said. “It’s hard when you’re trying to throw strikes in the postseason to get people out.”

Yamamoto retired nine of his first 10 batters before the Phillies jumped on him in the fourth. Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm followed with singles and Harper scored on center fielder Andy Pages’ throwing error. It skipped away from third baseman Max Muncy and into the Dodgers’ dugout, moving Bohm to third. He scored on Brandon Marsh’s sacrifice fly to left for a 3-1 lead.

The Phillies chased Yamamoto with back-to-back singles by Bryson Stott and Turner in the fifth.

Reliever Anthony Banda came in and worked out of a bases-loaded jam. He struck out Schwarber after Stott and Turner’s double steal. Harper flied out and Bohm was intentionally walked before Banda got Marsh on a swinging strikeout to end the threat.

The Dodgers led 1-0 on Tommy Edman’s homer on the first pitch by Suarez leading off the third.

The Dodgers had the potential tying runs on first and second in the sixth but Muncy grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Kershaw allowed three runners to reach base in the seventh, but none scored. Another left-hander, 89-year-old Dodgers great Sandy Koufax, was on his feet applauding as Kershaw jogged to the mound.

Dodgers sluggers Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman were a combined 0-for-8 with three strikeouts. Mookie Betts tripled and singled in four at-bats.

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MILWAUKEE – Leave it to the first postseason series between the rival Cubs and Brewers to make history in Milwaukeeâ€s 7-3 victory over Chicago in Game 2 of the National League Division Series.

When the Cubs†Seiya Suzuki and the Brewers†Andrew Vaughn traded three-run homers in the opening frame on Monday night at American Family Field, it marked the first time in postseason history that each team hit a three-run home run (or grand slam) in the first inning.

Even wilder than that? Vaughn’s blast was the first three-run homer or grand slam in Brewers postseason history.

Additionally, the 13 combined first-inning runs scored so far in the NLDS are the most through the first two games of any series in postseason history in the first inning (1989 Cubs/Giants NL Championship Series, 2000 Cardinals/Braves NLDS at 11 each).

“I think that home run was the most important part of the game for us,†Brewers catcher William Contreras said via interpreter Daniel de Mondesert. “After they were able to go ahead, I think that home run there put everyone back in the mentality of no one thought this was going to be easy. But at the same time, maybe it’s not going to be so hard here. I think it just brought the energy back into the dugout, and that’s what Vaughn has been doing ever since he’s got here. He’s been able to put big swings on balls and [has] continued producing for us like he has. I think it was one of the big keys to us winning the game there.â€

Like Game 1 on Saturday, Chicago jumped out to a first-inning lead on a home run. This time, Suzuki crushed lefty Aaron Ashbyâ€s changeup above the zone over the left-center wall, sending it a projected 440 feet with an exit velocity of 111.7 mph, per Statcast.

It was the Cubs’ first postseason homer with multiple runners on base since Addison Russell’s grand slam in Game 6 of the 2016 World Series. All three of Chicagoâ€s home runs in Saturdayâ€s Game 1 loss were solo shots.

Suzuki, who became the first player in Major League history to end the regular season on a four-homer streak and then go deep in his first postseason game, according to Elias Sports Bureau, has seven taters in his last nine games.

“Awesome swing by Seiya,†Cubs left fielder Ian Happ said. “Good ABs, and then Seiya hits that ball. And they did a good job of coming back and answering. Itâ€s a tie ballgame going into the second. Both games, up and down emotions there in the first inning.â€

The Cubs†lead was short-lived, though, as the Brewers countered in the bottom half of the frame.

Vaughn, who hit nine home runs in his first 29 games with Milwaukee but zero over his final 35 regular-season games (and none in Game 1 of the NLDS, a span totaling 146 plate appearances), snapped the drought in dramatic fashion.

“Beginning of the year definitely wasn’t how I wanted it to be, definitely a really tough part of my career,†Vaughn said. “But getting traded [from the White Sox] almost was like an opportunity. Going to [Triple-A] Nashville, trying to work my butt off, eventually getting the call, and trying to take advantage of my opportunity. It’s a really hard game. Just trying to go out there, be the best version of myself, and be like a little kid out there and have fun.â€

Vaughn capped a seven-pitch at-bat by turning on lefty Shota Imanagaâ€s inside sweeper and depositing the offering over the left-field wall. Imanaga, who allowed 15 home runs over his final nine regular-season starts, has given up at least one in each of his postseason appearances now, as well.

“We made a couple mistakes with multiple runners on base, and after getting off to a great start, those mistakes with two, three-run homers, you’re not going to win playoff games giving up two, three-run homers,†Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That was just too much to overcome.â€

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MILWAUKEE — Jackson Chourio discovered the safest way to run the bases on a questionable hamstring:

Not only was Chourio still able to play this National League Division Series after experiencing right hamstring tightness in Game 1. Not only did he bat leadoff and play left field in Mondayâ€s Game 2. He also delivered one of the biggest homers of the season for the Brewers in the fourth inning, a three-run, 419-foot blast to center field that proved the dagger en route to a 7-3 victory and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

“Heâ€s a star,†said Brewers catcher William Contreras, who hit another of the Brewers†three difference-making home runs, a go-ahead solo shot in the third. “For me, I think heâ€s the best player that we have here. But I like the way we go about it; nobody feels like theyâ€re better than the other and everyone is here focused on doing their job.â€

Chourio just happens to do his job very well, including on Monday when he tallied two more hits and made a tricky catch in foul ground against the side wall in left field.

And heâ€s still only 21 years old.

“Heâ€s got an incredible future ahead of him and an incredible talent for what he does out on the field,†Contreras said. “I love watching him go out there from the very first pitch and give it everything that he has.â€

Whether he would be able to do so was in serious question in the run-up to Game 2.

Chourio exited in the second inning of Saturdayâ€s Game 1 win after legging out an RBI infield single, which marked his third hit and third RBI of the afternoon. The Brewers had built a sizable 9-1 lead by that point and erred on the side of caution, lifting him for pinch-runner Isaac Collins.

Chourio said after Game 1 that he felt fine physically, but an MRI was inconclusive, putting his status for the rest of the series in question. He did some light baserunning during the teamâ€s workout on Sunday, but he did not take part in batting practice or shagging fly balls.

“I feel like Iâ€m in a really good position to go out there and compete, so Iâ€m going to go out there and give it the best that I can,†Chourio said. “I felt like I was able to do that today and make all the plays I needed to make and continue to play the game pretty normal.â€

This was the second flare-up of that right hamstring for Chourio, who missed almost all of August the first time. Chourio maintained that he was in “a very good position†compared to his first injury when he spoke on Saturday, but an injury scare this late in the season is a reason for caution.

The Brewers also had to see how their young star responds to the adversity, both physically and mentally.

“It’s the mental hurdle,†manager Pat Murphy said pregame Monday. “I’m sure it’s not 100 percent. But I’m more worried about behavior than feelings. However he feels isn’t as important as how he behaves.â€

Getting Chourio back at his top gear would be a huge development for the Brewers as they try to win their first playoff series since 2018. Heâ€s the youngest player to have multiple seasons of at least 20 home runs and 20 steals, and he has been outstanding in his brief playoff career, going 10-for-18 with three home runs. In Game 1, he became the first player in postseason history to record three hits in the first two innings of a game. His nine career postseason RBIs are already tied for third most in team history.

Game 2 brought more history. His homer came off a 101.4 mph Daniel Palencia fastball. Palencia was ahead in the count 0-2 and Chourio was hitless in his first two trips to the plate, but Palencia’s fastball caught too much plate and Chourio sent it out with an exit velocity of 103.9 mph. Since the advent of pitch tracking in 2008, no playoff home run had been hit on a harder thrown pitch.

“Unbelievable. He’s 21 years old and doing the things he’s doing in the first couple games here, in the environment, just know that’s special,†Murphy said. “We all wish we could have that — have that ‘it†factor the way Jack-Jack does.â€

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SEATTLE — Heâ€s been the Mariners†X-factor all year, with sneaky slug potential and has seemingly been right in the thick of things when their offense plays to its ceiling.

Which made Jorge Polanco the perfect player to rise to the occasion on Sunday night in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.

Seattleâ€s second baseman hit two huge homers off all-world ace Tarik Skubal that gave the Mariners†pitching staff cushion to operate in a tense showdown that ended in a 3-2 victory for the Mariners to even the series.

Polanco became just the fourth player — and first since 2021 — to homer twice in the same game vs. Skubal, whoâ€s the front-runner to win his second straight AL Cy Young Award and is widely regarded as the best pitcher on the planet.

“We all know what he does,†Polanco said of Skubal, whoâ€d surrendered just two homers on his slider in the regular season and zero homers to a second baseman. “We know what he throws. Heâ€s got pretty good pitches, heâ€s got a pretty good fastball. I came up there just trying to get a good pitch to hit, just hit to the middle of the field and put it straight on.â€

Polanco also became the first Mariners hitter to homer twice in a postseason game since Jay Buhner in Game 3 of the 1995 AL Championship Series.

“I was feeling pretty good,†Polanco said. “I didn’t know what was coming. Like I said, I just have a good approach, stay to the middle so I can recognize the second that it starts.â€

Beyond the power, Polanco aided Seattleâ€s arms with a pair of nifty plays in the field.

In the third, he scooped a one-hopper directly in front of him for the second out to help Luis Castillo go toe-to-toe with Skubal. Then in the fifth, he corralled a grounder to his right and flipped it to shortstop J.P. Crawford for the force at second base and the second out. That set up the tensest at-bat of the night, when Gabe Speier relieved Castillo and shut down Kerry Carpenter — Detroitâ€s hero from Game 1 — to strand runners on the corners.

This season has represented a resounding rebound for Polanco, who nearly one year ago to the day had just undergone surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee — an injury that he played through for virtually all of 2024, and one that significantly impacted his production. He posted career-worsts in batting average (.213), on-base percentage (.296) and OPS (.654), which led the Mariners to decline a $12 million club option at the outset of free agency last winter.

Yet within a lineup thatâ€s been buoyed by power in 2025, Polanco has quietly been one of the Mariners†most productive, slashing .265/.326/.495 (.821 OPS) with 26 homers and 78 RBIs.

“We all knew what he was going through, and we all had his back,†said Julio Rodríguez, who backed Polanco with Seattleâ€s game-winning hit later in Game 2. “We also knew how much he cared about the team last year. And just to see him going through it and showing up every single day, he inspired me a lot, I’ve got to say, just in the way that he went about his business.

“He’s put in a lot of work, and I’m so, so happy that he’s having success again and enjoying the game of baseball that he loves.â€

The Mariners knew better than anyone about the limitations he faced in ‘24, which is why they were comfortable bringing him back in free agency on a one-year, $7 million contract that included a $750,000 buyout. That deal also included a vesting player option for 2026, which he achieved last month by accumulating 450 plate appearances — an incentive tied to his health — and which he can now exercise for $6 million.

“That was my main focus during the offseason, just like trying to stay healthy,†Polanco said. “And it’s really motivated me to do it. I just feel really good.â€

Given his production this season, however, it’s possible that Polanco instead attempts to test the open market for a more lucrative deal this winter — but he still has plenty left to play for, springboarded by the biggest night of his Mariners career.

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SEATTLE — Kerry Carpenter loves hitting at T-Mobile Park. He also loves hitting against George Kirby.

Put the two together on the postseason stage, and Carpenter relished the chance to play postseason hero on Saturday night, delivering a two-run homer for the Tigers†first runs of their 3-2 victory in 11 innings in Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Mariners.

Carpenter entered the day 4-for-8 for his career against Kirby, all of the hits home runs — two in 2023, two more in 2024. They didnâ€t meet this regular season due to injuries. Kirby was out when the Tigers visited Seattle in early April, then Carpenter was on the injured list when Kirby pitched at Comerica Park in July.

Kirby struck out Carpenter on a 99.5 mph sinker in the opening inning Saturday. Carpenter hit a solid line drive in the third inning, but directly to center fielder Julio Rodríguez.

Kirby was poised to win the battle again with two outs and a runner in scoring position in the fifth inning, putting Carpenter in an 0-2 hole. But after Kirby couldnâ€t get Carpenter to chase a sinker out of the zone, he threw another — his third in a row — right at the top of the zone.

Carpenter crushed it, sending a Statcast-projected 409-foot drive to the right-field seats for a 2-1 Detroit lead. At 3.88 feet above the ground, it was the highest pitch Carpenter has hit for a home run in his Major League career.

“I do have a lot of respect for him because heâ€s pretty nasty,” Carpenter said of Kirby on the FOX postgame show. “Heâ€s an All-Star. Heâ€s really good. Something about it, even some guys that are really nasty. I just felt like I was seeing it off the fingertips really well and waiting on even his fastballs.”

Carpenter is 5-for-11 for his career off Kirby and has yet to have a hit land in play against him. According to MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs, he is the only active Major League hitter to have at least five career hits against a pitcher, all of them homers.

The home run was also his fourth in seven career games at T-Mobile Park, tied for his highest total anywhere besides Comerica Park.

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