Mariners fall to Tigers, giving Toronto top wild-card spot

After a second straight disappointing loss at T-Mobile Park, the Seattle Mariners are officially headed on the road to start the playoffs.

Thanks to the combined forces of a 4-3 Mariners loss to the Detroit Tigers on Monday, and a 5-1 Toronto Blue Jays victory over Baltimore, the Mariners will first have to win the wild-card series on the road if they want to play their first home playoff game since 2001.

The soonest Seattle can host is in the American League Division Series.

Where they will play in the first round is yet to be determined, as the Mariners lead Tampa Bay by just two games in the wild-card standings with three games left to play in the regular season.

The Mariners magic number to clinch the second wild-card spot is two, as Tampa Bay has just two games left to play. Any combination of Mariners wins and Rays losses that add up to two puts the Mariners on a flight to Toronto.

Monday’s loss also came with a cost, as Sam Haggerty left the game in the ninth inning with an injury after stealing second base. He was replaced on the base paths by pinch-runner J.P. Crawford.

With star rookie Julio Rodriguez back in the lineup after a 10-day absence with a lower back strain, the Mariners managed seven hits against the Tigers with Detroit starter Bryan Garcia giving up three earned runs and five hits over 6 ⅔ innings.

Rodriguez had three hits on the night, with a single to lead off the bottom of the first, another single with one out in the third inning, and an RBI double in the seventh.

Mariners pitcher George Kirby got off to a bumpy start by walking leadoff hitter Akil Baddoo and allowing an RBI single to Miguel Cabrera in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 Detroit lead, but Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suarez tied it up in the bottom half of the inning with a sacrifice fly that drove in Rodriguez.

Kirby, meanwhile, continued his struggles in the third inning with a pair of walks and a two-run homer from Tigers’ shortstop Javier Baez. Baez’ shot was the first home run allowed by Kirby since June 27, a span of 14 starts and an MLB high 75⅔ innings, and gave the Tigers a two-run lead.

Detroit made it 4-1 in the fourth inning when Victor Reyes drove in Kody Clemens with an RBI single.

Kirby was pulled after four innings in favor of Matt Brash, having allowed four runs on six hits, with three walks and five strikeouts.

While Kirby struggled, the Mariners relief corps had a strong outing as Brash, Matthew Boyd and Diego Castillo combined to throw four scoreless innings with just two hits allowed.

In the fifth inning, the Mariners pushed another run across as second baseman Adam Frazier drove in shortstop Dylan Moore with a single to right field, but Ty France grounded into a double play to snuff out any further Seattle scoring threat.

Rodriguez came to the plate with two on and two outs in the seventh inning against Tigers’ right-hander Jose Cisnero, and lined a double into the left field gap that scored Haggerty from second base. That put runners at second and third for Seattle, but Cisnero struck out France looking to escape the jam.

The Mariners struck out 11 times in the game, and have now whiffed a combined 25 times over the past two games. With the loss, the Mariners record fell to 87-72.