One play might have changed the entire trajectory of this game…
The Tigers’ season-opening west coast road trip came to its final game on Wednesday afternoon (certainly a relief for those of us tired of staying up for late games!). The Tigers turned to Tarik Skubal for the pitching matchup, and the Mariners brought Luis Castillo to the mound.
In the first, Riley Greene got things going with a one-out ground rule double, but two outs quickly followed, to start stranding Tigers early. In the home half things started to look rough early on. After two outs, Cal Raleigh singled, then Randy Arozarena doubled. Neither scored, but it was a sign of bad things to come.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the second, turning things back over to a very swing-happy Mariners club. Dylan Moore got a one-out walk, then in a moment that might turn the tides of the game, J.P. Crawford hit a ground ball to Colt Keith that managed to not get a single baserunner out thanks to a total brain fart moment.
Official scorer is drunk in Seattle calling this a single.
This led to 2ERs for Skubal after a 2 run double on the very next pitch.
If I were Colt Keith, I would not be sitting anywhere near Tarik on the bench. pic.twitter.com/KziQLL2eIu
— Dean78904 (@DFS_Almanac) April 2, 2025
It was an obvious mistake that resulted in two runners being safe. Victor Robles then doubled to score both baserunners. Julio Rodriguez walked, but then Raleigh grounded into a force out to end the inning. Because Colt’s mess-up didn’t get credited as an error, Skubal took both runs as earned runs which honestly didn’t feel fair.
The Tigers again went down in order in the top of the third, and Skubal returned the favor in the bottom half of the inning.
Riley Greene kicked off the fourth inning with a leadoff single. Two outs followed, then Colt Keith took a walk, proving he can pay attention to where the ball is going, but it didn’t end up mattering because the inning ended with a Justyn-Henry Malloy lineout. The Tigers’ woes continued in the bottom of the inning as Dylan Moore homered to start things off. Ryan Bliss then singled. Three outs then followed for the price of two as Bliss got picked off stealing while Robles lined out.
Trey Sweeney got one back for Detroit in the top of the fifth with his own leadoff home run.
Ryan Kreidler singled with one out, then Zach McKinstry singled to follow him. A Riley Greene groundout scored Kreidler to put the Tigers back within one. In the home half, Skubal took the Mariners out in order.
Top of the sixth, Colt Keith got a one-out walk. Unfortunately, he would be the only baserunner for the inning as they failed to tie things up. Bottom of the sixth, Skubal got two outs, but then Dylan Moore got a walk. That was the end of the night for Skubal who had 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER* (should really only be 1, honestly), 3 BB, 8 K, 1 HR on 93 pitches. Not his best outing but when he was dialled in he was still doing great work. Brenan Hanifee came out of the pen to replace Skubal. Dylan Moore was called out on a caught stealing but the Mariners asked for the review and it was overturned. Unfortunately correctly as Keith managed to not touch him at all. Really not a great game for Keith. Ryan Bliss grounded out to end the inning, so thankfully the overturned call didn’t hurt the Tigers too badly.
In the seventh, Castillo got the Tigers out in order to end his night. Hanifee was back for the bottom of the inning and running a pitching workshop on how to befuddle batters with the insane movement of his slider. Just really delightfully good pitching.
Gabe Speier came in for the Mariners in relief in the eighth and got the Tigers out in order, though Torkelson did hit a ball to deep, deep left, that would have been great if it had been fair. John Brebbia came on for the Tigers in relief in the bottom of the inning, and got the Mariners out in order.
The Tigers were down to their last chance in the top of the ninth, and they were facing off against Andrés Andrés Muñoz Keith started things off with his third walk of the night. Then Malloy walked, and very unusual turn of events for Muñoz and a very exciting opportunity for the Tigers. Dillon Dingler came in pinch-hitting for Jake Rogers and got a line-drive single to load the bases. Javier Baez came in to pinch-hit for Kreidler. Baez hit the ball into the infield and the force out was the play at home. It was all up to McKinstry, who struck out to end the game with three runners left on base.
Final: Mariners 3, Tigers 2