2025 American League Division Series 2

2025 American League Division Series

Seattle Mariners 90 - 72 in the AL	3 - 2 Series Summary	Detroit Tigers 87 - 75 in the AL

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Mariners: Dan Wilson | Tigers: A.J. Hinch

Mariners

Tigers

Umpires[edit]

Alex Tosi, Jeremie Rehak, John Tumpane, Chris Guccione, Alan Porter (crew chief) and Nate Tomlinson

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Detroit Tigers 3 Seattle Mariners 2	October 4	Troy Melton (0-0) George Kirby (0-0)	8:38 pm
2	Detroit Tigers 2 Seattle Mariners 3	October 5	Tarik Skubal (0-0) Luis Castillo (0-0)	8:03 pm
3	Seattle Mariners 8 Detroit Tigers 4	October 7	Logan Gilbert (1-0) Jack Flaherty (0-1)	7:01 pm
4	Seattle Mariners 3 Detroit Tigers 9	October 8	Bryce Miller (0-0) Casey Mize (0-0)	3:08 pm
5	Detroit Tigers 2 Seattle Mariners 3	October 10	Tarik Skubal (0-0) George Kirby (0-0)	8:08 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ T-Mobile Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Tigers	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0
Mariners	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	0
WP: Will Vest (1-0); LP: Carlos Vargas (0-1) ; SV: Keider Montero (1)
Home Runs: SEA - Julio Rodríguez (1); DET - Kerry Carpenter (1)

Attendance: 47,290

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had famously called his approach to handling his pitching staff during the final month of the 2024 season and the 2024 Postseason "pitching chaos", because he was liable to use any pitcher (except for ace Tarik Skubal) at any time in any role in order to get a win. That's what he had to resort to out of necessity in Game 1, as he had used his top three starting pitchers to get through a tough Wild Card Series and now had to use rookie Troy Melton, who had made four starts all season, as his starter. Meanwhile, Seattle had the luxury of having a stable of well-rested starting pitchers and went with George Kirby. It may have looked like a mismatch on paper, but on the field the two performed equally well, and the game was low-scoring and not decided until the 11th inning, the first game in this year's postseason to require extra innings.

Both teams stranded at least one baserunner in the 1st, and Detroit added two more in the 2nd and one in the 3rd, repeating a pattern familiar to anyone who had watched them play in the Wild Card Series. Meanwhile, Seattle couldn't get anything going against Melton who retired seven straight batters between the 1st and 3rd innings, before Julio Rodríguez led off the bottom of the 4th with a solo homer to center field. Josh Naylor followed with another hard-hit ball, but his launch angle was all wrong as the ball ascended approximatively to the height of the Space Needle before coming straight down and being caught by RF Kerry Carpenter at the warning track. The Tigers replied in the 5th as Parker Meadows singled with one out, and after a second out, Kirby (and most of the 47,000+ fans in attendance) thought he had Carpenter struck out on an inside fastball on his third pitch, only to see Carpenter blast the next pitch into the right field stands for a 2-1 lead. Carpenter's numbers against Kirby were just otherworldly: in 11 at-bats against him, he had five hits, all of them homers!

Melton had fulfilled his assignment well. Brant Hurter was the first relief pitcher delegated by Hinch in the bottom of the 5th, and he retired the Mariners in order. Kirby for his part had needed 94 pitches to get through the first five, so he was replaced by Caleb Ferguson to start the 6th, and by the time the game ended both managers would have the opportunity to bring out just about every relief pitcher they had available. In any case, Ferguson got off on the wrong foot, walking pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones, and while Detroit was unable to get a hit in the inning, Ferguson had been replaced by Eduard Bazardo by the time the third out was recorded. For the Tigers, Rafael Montero was next to take the mound, and he also walked the lead-off man in the bottom of the 6th, Randy Arozarena. Cal Raleigh and Rodríguez both followed with singles and the game was tied. Seattle had a great chance to take the lead, but Hinch brought in one of his better relievers in Tyler Holton and he doused the flames by getting Naylor to ground into a double play to SS Javier Baez, who tagged Rodríguez in passing before throwing to 1B Spencer Torkelson. Seattle manager Dan Wilson challenged both ends of the play but lost out both times. Holton then got Jorge Polanco to line out to right to end the inning.

The 2-2 tie persisted for a long time, as relievers began a tag-team relay on the mound: four more men got to pitch for the Mariners, and four more for the Tigers as well. There weren't many real scoring opportunities, though, and the game moved into extra innings. The 10th inning was equally quiet, with the Tigers going down in order against Andrés Muñoz, pitching his second inning, while the Mariners did the same facing Will Vest, who also went two innings. Both managers had now used their closers, and in the 11th Wilson sent Carlos Vargas to pitch. He immediately put himself in trouble by walking Torkelson, and then throwing a wild pitch to put him in scoring position. However, he struck out Wenceel Perez and Dillon Dingler to get himself two-thirds out of the hole he had dug, but could not repeat against Zach McKinstry, who singled to center to drive in the go-ahead run. McKinstry then stole second, but Vargas got Baez to ground out to end the inning. It was up to Keider Montero to preserve the lead in the bottom of the 11th. He got Arozarena to ground out for the first out, and Raleigh to pop up to third in foul territory for the second. Rodríguez then hit a single, his third hit of the game, but he could go no further as Naylor once again extinguished the rally, grounding out to first to end the game.

Game 2 @ T-Mobile Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tigers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	3	0
Mariners	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	x	3	8	1
WP: Matt Brash (1-0); LP: Kyle Finnegan (1-1); SV: Andrés Muñoz (1)
Home Runs: SEA - Jorge Polanco 2 (2)

Attendance: 47,371

Game 2 was once again a low-scoring game dominated by the pitchers. That was not really a surprise, given the match-up featuring defending Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal for Detroit against Luis Castillo, whose ERA in three career postseason starts before tonight was below 2.00. Both pitchers were true to form: Castillo did not allow a run on just one measly hit in 4 2/3 innings, although he did walk four, while Skubal was a bit more generous, allowing five hits and one walk in seven innings. The difference was that two of the hits against Skubal were homers, but both were solo shots hit by the same man, Jorge Polanco, so that the Tigers were still in a good position after his turn on the mound was over and indeed managed to tie the score briefly. Once again, the final score was 3-2, but this time in favor of Seattle, and with no extra innings required.

The first few innings were played at a brisk pace, with few baserunners and no serious scoring threat. Castillo allowed a walk in the 1st and nothing else, while Randy Arozarena led off the bottom of that inning with a single off Skubal and also stole second base, but his teammates were unable to move him further. Castillo issued two more walks in the 2nd but he struck out Parker Meadows with the two runners in scoring position, and pitched better after that, retiring eight batters in order. Polanco broke the ice with one out in the 4th, taking Skubal deep to left-center on a hanging slider, a rare mistake by the Tigers' ace. In the 5th, the Tigers got their first baserunner since the 2nd when free-swinging Javier Baez, of all people, worked a walk off Castillo. Meadows forced him out for the second out but Gleyber Torres got the Tigers' first hit of the game, a single to right and Meadows made it to third base. At this point, Dan Wilson called on lefty Gabe Speier to face the dangerous left-handed batter Kerry Carpenter, and A.J. Hinch decided not to use a pinch-hitter as the game was still young, resulting in Carpenter striking out to end the inning.

Skubal and Speier contined to dominate in the next two turns at bat, until Skubal once again made a mistake when facing Polanco with two outs in the 6th, this one with a full count, a pitch similar to the one Polanco had driven out of the park in the 4th, and with similar results - another solo homer. It was now 2-0 Seattle, with only three turns at bat left for Detroit. The Tigers failed to do anything against Eduard Bazardo in the 7th, as a two-out single by Baez went to waste, while Skubal continued to pitch well in the bottom of the inning. In the 8th, Wilson called on Matt Brash to pitch, and while his pitches did not miss by much, he walked Torres on a full count to start the inning. He then struck out Carpenter and got Riley Greene to hit what looked like a potential double play grounder to Josh Naylor at first base, but the ball bounced off Naylor's glove and into short right field. Everyone was safe with the runners ending up on second and third when the inning should have been over. That's when Spencer Torkelson got only the third hit of the evening for Detroit, and the only one to go for extra bases, as he lashed a ball to the opposite field, just inside the right field line, for a two-run double. Suddenly, the game was tied. Brash could have fallen apart at that point, but he recovered to strike out Wenceel Perez and Dillon Dingler in order, ending the inning with Torkelson still at second base. The game did not stay tied for long, however, as Cal Raleigh, who had not done much with the bat until that point, hit a one-out double off Kyle Finnegan, who had come in for Skubal. The next man up was Julio Rodríguez and he doubled as well, putting the Mariners back in the lead. Polanco followed with his third hit of the night, but it was an infield single, so Rodríguez had to stop at third base and he was thrown out at home when Eugenio Suarez followed with a grounder to third. Brant Hurter then came in to face Naylor, who continued with a tough series by popping up to second. However, the Mariners had done enough as they handed a one-run lead to closer Andrés Muñoz, fresh off pitching two innings the night before. He showed absolutely no sign of fatigue, however, retiring the Tigers in order, knotting up the series at one win apiece.

Game 3 @ Comerica Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Mariners	0	0	2	2	0	1	0	1	2	8	8	0
Tigers	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	4	7	2
WP: Logan Gilbert (1-0); LP: Jack Flaherty (0-1)
Home Runs: SEA - Eugenio Suarez (1), J.P. Crawford (1), Cal Raleigh (1)

Attendance: 41,525

The start of Game 3 was delayed almost three hours by rain, so what should have been a late-afternoon start turned into a night game. The game was in marked contrast to the first two, as it was neither low-scoring nor close. The Mariners got their bats going in the 3rd inning, then built a huge lead, and only a late rally with the Tigers down seven runs in the bottom of the 9th made the final score appear somewhat flattering. But there was no mistake - this was a rout. The Tigers had decided to flip their number of 2 and 3 starters for this game, going with Jack Flaherty instead of Casey Mize, but this time Flaherty looked like the man who had led the American League in losses, and not the veteran of many strong postseason starts. For their part, the Mariners turned to another member of their excellent group of starting pitchers in Logan Gilbert, and for the third straight game, they got a very solid performance.

After the game finally got under way, the first couple of innings were quiet with neither team managing to mount a serious threat in spite of putting some runners on base. In the 3rd, however, Victor Robles led off with a double for Seattle and he immediately came in to score after a single by J.P. Crawford. He had originally stopped at third base, but LF Riley Greene's throw home was wild and went through C Dillon Dingler's legs after 3B Zach McKinstry had failed to cut it off, allowing Robles to score. That play would set the tone for the rest of the game. In the immediate, Randy Arozarena followed with another single and Crawford scored from second with no drama this time. Flaherty then walked Cal Raleigh, and there were still no outs, but he managed to wiggle himself out of the hole with a couple of strikeouts and a ground out. There was no such escape in the 4th, however, as Eugenio Suarez hit a lead-off homer, after which Flaherty issued a walk to Dominic Canzone. He managed to strike out Robles for the first out, but was replaced by Tommy Kahnle at that point. Kahnle walked Crawford and struck out Arozarena for the second out, but Raleigh singled to make it 4-0. Neither team had scored that many runs in the first two games, so it was already a deep hole for Detroit.

Brant Hurter retired the Mariners in order in the 5th, and the Tigers finally got something going in the bottom of the inning, but it was very much the product of small ball. Dingler was hit by a pitch and Parker Meadows laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him to second. A single by Javier Baez advanced him to third base and he scored on a ground out by Kerry Carpenter. Then the Mariners immediately got that run back in the 6th, and with just one swing, as Crawford took Hurter deep with two outs. There was no more scoring for a while as Gilbert left after six innings of one-run ball, his mission accomplished. In the 8th, Seattle made it 6-1 when pinch-hitter Luke Raley was hit by a pitch with one out and made it to third on a two-base error by RF Kerry Carpenter on a line drive by Robles. Crawford then followed with a sacrifice fly as he ended the day with two hits, two runs scored, and two ribbies. The Mariners then kept on pounding in the 9th, with two more runs coming on the first long-ball of the postseason by Raleigh, the major league home run hitter with 60. The ball was caught by a lone Mariners fan in a sea of Tigers backers in right field, and he was appropriately wearing a "Dump Here 61" tee-shirt, a clear reference to the one Mariners fans call "The Big Dumper"; his work done, the fan ^peeled off the tee-short to reveal another one underneath, reading "Dump Here 62". The Tigers went into the bottom of the 9th trailing 9-1, having been thoroughly outplayed. It would have taken some sort of earth-shaking event to change the final outcome, and while the Tigers were able to score three times off Caleb Ferguson, on a double by Spencer Torkelson and a single by Andy Ibáñez, it was far from enough. Dan Wilson did not wait for a save situation to materialize to bring in his closer, Andrés Muñoz, doing so after the third run of the inning scored. Muñoz retired the first two batters he faced to end the game.

Game 4 @ Comerica Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Mariners	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	8	0
Tigers	0	0	0	0	3	4	1	1	x	9	13	0
WP: Troy Melton (1-1); LP: Gabe Speier (0-1)
Home Runs: DET - Riley Greene (1), Javier Baez (1), Gleyber Torres (1)

Attendance: 37,069

In Game 4, the Mariners seemed to have everything under control in the early innings and were already thinking of the ALCS when everything collapsed starting in the 5th inning and the Tigers began to feast on their relievers. By the time the game ended, the Tigers had won handily, 9-3, and the series was tied again and headed back to Seattle. On the mound, the Tigers had delegated Casey Mize, who still did not have his manager's full confidence in spite of a very good season, facing Bryce Miller, whose own season had been so-so, but who had pitched very well in 2024 before being bothered by injuries this season. In an ideal world, it would have been Bryan Woo on the mound for Seattle, but he was unavailable due to an injury.

The Mariners dominated in the early going, as they scored in three of the first five innings while Miller held Detroit scoreless through the first four. The first run came when Josh Naylor finally got his first hit of the postseason in the 2nd, a double, and he scored on a single by Dominic Canzone. In the 4th, the Mariners doubled their lead against Tyler Holton after A.J. Hinch had pulled Mize after just three innings. Naylor was again the instigator, with a lead-off single, and he went to second on a single by Eugenio Suarez. Dan Wilson sent in Mitch Garver to pinch hit for Canzone and he drew a walk, loading the bases. That was it for Holton, who gave way to Kyle Finnegan. Finnegan got Victor Robles to ground into a double play, with Naylor crossing the plate, and he ended the inning by getting J.P. Crawford to pop up. Then, in the 4th, Randy Arozarena led off with a single and reached second on a wild pitch by Finnegan before scoring on a single by Cal Raleigh for a 3-0 lead.

At that point, the Mariners appeared to be in complete control and Comerica Park was deathly quiet. But Miller began to show signs of fatigue on the mound. Spencer Torkelson led off with a single but was forced out by Zach McKinstry. However, the next batter, Dillon Dingler, hit a double, and the Tigers had a first run. That spelled the end for Miller; the Mariners' bullpen had been excellent thus far in the series, but it was the complete opposite today. Gabe Speier gave up a double to pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones for a second run and Javier Baez singled to tie the score. And they were just getting started. In the 6th, Riley Greene led off the inning with a homer off Speier and then the Tigers kept on scoring against Eduard Bazardo. Torkelson doubled, McKinstry singled, Wenceel Perez doubled and Baez doubled to make it 7-3 by the time the inning ended. Troy Melton shut down the Mariners completely after coming in to start the 6th, giving up just two hits in three innings, and the Tigers added one run in each of the next two innings to make it 9-3. There was no suspense left: there would need to be a Game 5. When closer Will Vest came in to pitch the 9th for Detroit, it was only to get some work in, as he had not been on the mound since Game 1. He retired the Mariners in order to end the game.

Game 5 @ T-Mobile Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	R	H	E
Tigers	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	2
Mariners	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	8	0
WP: Luis Castillo (1-0); LP: Tommy Kahnle (0-0)
Home Runs: DET - Kerry Carpenter (2)

Attendance: 47,025

Game 5 was another low-scoring battle that turned into an epic marathon, as the winning run did not score until the bottom of the 15th inning, sending the Mariners to the ALCS. It began as a duel between George Kirby and Tarik Skubal, with both being charged only with one run during their time of the mound, and then the two managers had to send just about everyone available to pitch as the game went late into the night (it was past 1 AM on the east coast when it ended), as neither team was able to push a runner across from the 7th inning, when Seattle tied the game, until the 15th, when they won it. Fans had seen a preview of this in Game 1, but that had taken a comparatively brisk 11 innings to come to a conclusion. The hero was Jorge Polanco, who drove in the winning run with a single in his seventh plate appearance of the game, but more than him, it was the pitchers who shone, with both teams having to call on no fewer than two pitchers who had previously started games in the series, including the one who ended up the winner, Luis Castillo.

No one really expected a high-scoring game when it started, because the two starting pitchers were both coming off strong seasons and strong performances, in previous postseason starts, and the two offenses had not been particularly sharp in the first four games, except for brief spurts. Indeed, Kirby only gave up 2 hits and no walks through his first five innings, while Skubal limited the Mariners to the same in six innings. Kirby struck out six, but Skubal was just overpowering, with 13 Ks in his six innings. Yet, it was the Mariners who scored first, thanks to Josh Naylor. When the series started, it was announced that he was liable to be called away at any point as his wife was about to deliver their first child back at their home in Arizona, but he had still not become a father and was still playing a week later, coming off a three-hit game two days earlier. In the 2nd inning, with one out and a two-strike count, he managed to put his bat in front of a sinker timed over 100 mph, and the pitch's velocity did the rest as the ball fell into left field and rolled to the wall for a double. He then surprised just about everyone in the ballpark, starting with Skubal, by taking off for third base and making it safely. Like his 30+ steals during the regular season, this one was more the result of guile and of reading the pitcher perfectly than of pure speed, but it turned out to be crucial as Mitch Garver lifted a pitch to center field, where it was caught easily by Parker Meadows; however, it was deep enough for Naylor to trot home. Starting with a strikeout of Victor Robles to end that inning, Skubal then mowed down the next seven batters he faced in order before Naylor was finally able to put a ball in play in the 5th, but it was a fly ball to Meadows.

In the 6th, Javier Baez led off the inning with a double off Kirby, bringing up Kerry Carpenter, who absolutely owned the pitcher, as demonstrated in Game 1. He already had two of Tigers' three hits on the night (Baez's freshly-minted double being the other), so manager Dan Wilson called on lefty Gabe Speier to face Carpenter, and it being still early, A.J. Hinch left him in the game. It was a good decision, as for the second straight game Speier failed in his mission, allowing a two-run homer to center field that turned the 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. Speier then got the next two outs, before Matt Brash completed the inning, but with runs at such a premium, many Mariners fans were wondering it that was not the fatal blow, and some of them began to place a shoe on their head, in souvenir of their team's epic comeback against the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the 2022 Wild Card Series. Skubal returned for a sixth inning of work, the first time all game he had pitched with a lead, and again made quick work of Seattle getting two more K's including getting Cal Raleigh to swing and miss on a 101 mph pitch to end the inning. It was his 99th pitch of the evening and it turned out to be his final one. He had given all he had to give and the bullpen would need to record the final nine outs. After a 1-2-3 inning by Brash in the top of the 7th, the Mariners mounted a rally against Kyle Finnegan, the first pitcher out of the bullpen for Detroit. After one out, Jorge Polanco worked a walk, and with two outs Naylor, again, hit a single, with Polanco stopping at second. With a righty now on the mound, Wilson sent in Dominic Canzone to pinch-hit for Garver, but Hinch replied by bringing in the lefty Tyler Holton, to which Wilson replied again by replacing Canzone with Luis Rivas, who did not yet have a plate appearance this postseason and was celebrating his 28th birthday. He did so in style by lining a single to left and Polanco crossed the plate, tying the game at 2. That's how it would remain for a long, long time.

Both teams used their closers at this point, with Will Vest going two innings for Detroit and Andrés Muñoz replacing Brash with two outs in the top of the 8th. It's lucky for him that Brash had been outstanding, retiring all six batters he had faced after replacing Speier in what was the longest outing of his career, as Muñoz started off by walking Carpenter and Gleyber Torres, but he got Riley Greene to pop out to third base. The Mariners left a runner on base against Vest in both the 8th and the 9th, then in the 10th sent in Game 3 starter Logan Gilbert to the mound for his first career relief appearance, after which the Tigers used Troy Melton, who had started Game 1 and won Game 4 with an excellent relief outing. The Mariners had a great chance to win the game against him, as Robles hit his first pitch of the inning into the right field corner for a double. J.P. Crawford hinted at a bunt on Melton's next pitch, but pulled back his bat when it was out of the strike zone, and then did not attempt the strategy again. He hit a foul ball down the third base line on which Zach McKinstry attempted to make a catch at a full run with his back to the plate, only to see the ball fall just out of his reach; it was actually a break for Detroit, as if there had been a catch, Robles could have advanced to third base. In any case, Crawford hit a pop up to second for the first out, and Melton struck out Randy Arozarena for out number 2. That brought up Raleigh, who the huge crowd would have loved to see play the hero after his record-breaking season, but he was issued an intentional walk to face Julio Rodríguez who appeared completely lost at the plate of late. He hit a harmless grounder to Baez at short, and the Tigers had dodged a bullet. They then put the pressure on Gilbert in the 11th, starting with a single by Carpenter, his fourth hit of the game and fifth time on base, followed by a passed ball by Raleigh, something he had successfully avoided doing during the entire regular season. Torres lined out to right for the first out and Greene was issued an intentional pass. However, Spencer Torkelson could only manage a fly ball to left field, not deep enough for Carpenter to advance, and Gilbert struck out Colt Keith. Both teams had now wasted a great scoring opportunity in extra innings in a game when these were few and far between.

Keider Montero was next to take the bump for Detroit and he retired the Mariners in order, moving the game to the 12th. The Tigers turned on the pressure again, with McKinstry and Dillon Dingler starting things off with singles off Gilbert. That brought in Eduard Bazardo as Seattle's sixth pitcher. The next batter, Meadows, advanced both runners with a successful sacrifice bunt, bringing up the top of the batting order. Baez hit the ball to Eugenio Suarez at third base as his bat exploded into shards, but Sanchez cut down McKinstry at home for the second out. Next up was Carpenter, the Tigers' most dangerous hitter, but like Raleigh earlier for Seattle, he was not going to be given a chance to win the game, as he was given a free pass. Torres could have put his team in the lead, but he flied out to right, leaving the sacks full. Seattle then took a turn exerting pressure, as Montero walked Rivas, made an errant pick-off throw to first base, and then hit Robles with a pitch as he was squaring up to bunt. But Crawford flied out without advancing the runners and Arozarena grounded into a double play, so the game went on. The 13th saw Bazardo retiring the Tigers in order and Game 2 starter Jack Flaherty take the mound for Detroit. He walked the first two batters of the inning, Raleigh and Rodríguez, but then struck out Polanco and the inning ended with another double play, this one grounded into by Suarez. In the 14th, Dingler doubled with one out and after a second out, Wilson called on another starting pitcher, Castillo, to take the mound. It was also the first relief outing of his career. He retired Baez on a pop up. With two outs for Seattle, Robles walked and tried to steal second, but he was gunned down by Dingler. On to the 15th. Castillo made short work of the Tigers and Seattle finally managed to push a run across. Tommy Kahnle had replaced Flaherty on the mound, and he gave up a single to Crawford, who had assumed the role of extinguisher-in-chief so far in the game. Kahnle then hit Arozarena with a pitch, the second time Randy had reached base in that fashion, to bring up Raleigh. He couldn't end the game, as he lined out to center, but both runners advanced when Meadows' relay back to the infield was wild. The Tigers then decided to walk Rodriguez intentionally, to put a force at every base, and faced Polanco, who had been much more dangerous that Rodríguez in the last four games, including this one. Polanco worked a full count, then ended the game and the series with a single to right field after almost five hours of play.