Jacob Thorpe: Jorge Polanco provided pop for Mariners to take down Tigers, Skubal
SEATTLE – Tarik Skubal is maybe – no, assuredly – the best pitcher in the American League. But on Sunday Jorge Polanco had his number, clubbing two home runs and reigniting the Mariners’ postseason hopes.
The visiting Tigers didn’t make it easy, scoring two in the eighth inning to match Polanco’s blasts. But thanks to those home runs and Polanco finally putting some pitches on the arm of a cruising Skubal, Detroit finally took their ace out of the game after seven innings.
That was the opening Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez needed, hitting back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the eighth to regain the lead.
The 3-2 win gives Seattle life in the American League Division Series. The Mariners lost home-field advantage. But Seattle’s first home playoff win in 24 years means the specter of Skubal is behind them, for now, and a road win in Detroit seems a substantially less daunting task.
If neither team wins both games in Detroit, Skubal, who played at Seattle University, will likely pitch again in Game 5. The reigning Cy Young Award winner is almost certain to win it a second time when the 2025 awards are announced in November.
American League MVP favorite Raleigh and perennial star Rodriguez have been the Mariners best players this season, ranking second and fourth in WAR among all AL positional players. They are undoubtedly Seattle’s most fearsome hitters, and the only Mariners who were able to get anything going at the plate in game 1.
But Polanco has had streaks this season when he was as good as any hitter on the team, or even in the league. His bat won Game 2 for the Mariners, and it played a large role in their September surge that put them in position to be playing baseball in October.
Between Sept. 6 and 14, the infielder recorded an extra-base hit in nine consecutive games, tied for the second -longest streak in team history behind Ken Griffey Jr.’s 10-game streak in 1993.
Polanco was the first player to take Skubal over the fence twice in one game since Paul Goldschmidt more than four years prior.
Polanco first went yard in the fourth inning, when Skubal had not given up a hit since Randy Arozarena’s soft single in Seattle’s first at-bat. The 392-foot shot to center left gave the M’s the lead, but was eerily reminiscent of the night before, when Julio Rodriguez gave the home team the first lead with a solo home run, only to see it evaporate when manager Dan Wilson made the highly scrutinized decision to leave starting pitcher George Kirby in to face Kerry Carpenter.
The second home run came in the bottom of the sixth inning on a 3-2 pitch. Skubal lasted one more inning but cracks were finally starting to form.
Polanco’s surge came at the perfect time for Seattle, that will need hitters other than Raleigh and Rodriguez to advance any further in the postseason. The team’s two trade-deadline pickups from Arizona, Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor, have yet to record a hit this playoff.
In fact, the two left the offense in a precarious position in the eighth inning. Raleigh and Rodriguez had doubled back-to-back to regain the lead, and Polanco added a single to advance Rodriguez to third. With only one out, the Mariners had a golden opportunity to give their bullpen some insurance, but Suárez hit a feeble ball to third baseman Zach McKinstrey who threw out Rodriguez at home, and Naylor popped out to end the threat.