ALDS: Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez deliver in Mariners’ thrilling Game 2 victory

SEATTLE – First, Julio Rodríguez delivered the most consequential swing of his young career.

At second, he danced around the middle of the infield, jumping and pumping his fist in maybe his most emphatic celebration yet, an outpouring of emotion shared in style and in intensity by the 47,371 fans shaking T-Mobile Park Sunday evening.

Rodríguez, alone at second base, punctuated his celebration by gesturing toward the home dugout and flapping his arms as if he’d grown a pair of wings.

At long last, the Mariners have liftoff in the postseason.

Rodríguez followed Cal Raleigh’s eighth-inning double to right field with a double of his own to left field, the Mariners’ two biggest stars coming through in the biggest moment of the season to send the Mariners to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.

In the franchise’s first home playoff win since Oct. 15, 2001, the Mariners beat reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and, in doing so, released a generation’s worth of angst for one tormented fan base.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Raleigh said. “That’s a big relief for the guys, just to get that one out of the way.”

The best-of-five series is tied 1-1 and now moves to Detroit for Game 3 Tuesday.

Jorge Polanco homered twice off Skubal, the former Seattle U standout, and Gabe Speier struck out Kerry Carpenter, the Tigers’ Game 1 hero, at a crucial pivot point to help set the stage for the late heroics from Raleigh and Rodríguez.

“That is the best baseball we can play, and it’s fun, you know?” Rodríguez said. “I feel like everybody’s so engaged in the game, the fans, the team — I mean, everybody. That’s something that I really love about postseason baseball. And it was awesome. These are things I dreamed of as a kid … and to be able to be here playing baseball for the team is really awesome.”

The Tigers had rallied in Saturday’s Game 1 to win 3-2 in 11 innings, with the Mariners unable to muster any late-game magic.

There was a hint of a here-we-go-again feeling Sunday night after the Tigers struck for two runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the score at 2-2.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Raleigh turned on a first-pitch splitter from right-handed reliever Kyle Finnegan and sent it into the right-field corner, then dived into second base with a head-first slide.

Two pitches later, Rodríguez sent a Finnegan splitter down the left-field line to easily drive in Raleigh for the go-ahead run.

“After I hit it, I looked around a little bit. I could see everybody jumping around, and that made me feel really good. It was an awesome moment,” Rodríguez said. “But more importantly, to come and answer back as a team, I felt like Cal got it going right there, and I was really happy to be able to follow through on that and grab the lead again.”

Raleigh has put together an MVP-worthy season, rocketing into national stardom on his way to 60 homers and 125 RBI during the regular season, record-breaking statistics that remain secondary to the gravitas he carries for the Mariners as its nearly-everyday catcher.

Rodríguez’s value to the Mariners has equaled Raleigh’s in the season’s second half, and the center fielder’s right-on-cue summer surge really took flight after they were flipped in the lineup.

Since late July, Raleigh has consistently hit second in the order and Rodríguez third. From that vantage point, Raleigh has seen Rodríguez’s transformation in the batter’s box.

“He looks in control in the box,” Raleigh said. “He doesn’t look off-balance. He’s taking good pitches. He just looks confident, looks slow, looks balanced.”

After Game 1, Raleigh lamented that the approach from Mariners hitters (he included himself) got “too big” — in effect, they were all trying to blast the ball out of the ballpark. Raleigh acknowledged he was still doing some of that — trying too hard — against Skubal early in Game 2.

He made the necessary adjustment by his final at-bat.

“Stay within ourselves and just do your job really at the end of the day,” Raleigh said. “I know it’s a cliché thing to say, but just be who you are.”

Luis Castillo remained a steady postseason presence for the Mariners, working around four walks to throw 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit. In four career playoff starts — three with Seattle — Castillo has a 1.49 ERA over 24 1/3 innings.

For the second night in a row, the game’s turning point came with two outs in the fifth inning and Carpenter coming to the plate.

Speier, the Mariners’ dynamic left-hander left idling in the bullpen in the same situation Saturday, was called on this time and struck out Carpenter on four pitches, blowing a 96-mph fastball right down the middle past the Tigers’ lefty slugger.

“I’m confident in facing any lefty in the league and just attacking him like I would any other lefty, really,” Speier said. “The crowd is pretty special, and we were all riding that energy.”

On Saturday, Carpenter’s two-run homer off M’s starter George Kirby changed the complexion of the series. On Sunday, M’s manager Dan Wilson made the early call for Speier with two runners on base and the M’s clinging to a 1-0 lead.

“It’s almost déjà vu all over again,” Wilson said. “And I thought 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 and keep that lead.”

Spencer Torkelson doubled to right field off a Matt Brash sinker to drive in two runs in the eighth inning, tying the score at 2-2 and quieting the home crowd.

Brash had walked the leadoff batter, Gleyber Torres, and first baseman Josh Naylor misplayed a ground ball to help start the Tigers’ rally. Brash escaped further damage when he struck out Wenceel Pérez and Dillon Dingler to strand Torkelson at second.