Tigers’ season ends after marathon 15-inning heartbreaker in Game 5 USA MLB Live Update
SEATTLE — Tigers manager A.J. Hinch sat with tears in his eyes and a choked voice in the interview room at T-Mobile Park on Friday night, trying to put his club’s season-ending end into perspective.
For nearly five hours and 15 innings, Detroit battled the Mariners in Game 5 of the ALDS to advance to the ALCS and extend their season. The two clubs played one of the most memorable winner-take-all postseason matches in Major League history, certainly the longest.
“That was a great game,” Hinch said.
And when Jorge Polanco’s 15th-inning line drive crashed into right field, leading to an RBI single by J.P. Crawford, the game was over—not just the game, the 3-2 finale, but the season as well.
In games like these, the ending is so sudden that it’s hard to comprehend.
“We have nothing to hang our heads on,” Hinch said, as the echoes of the Mariners’ celebration echoed through the room. “There will be plenty of time to talk about the season, this game, the ups and downs. But I’m very proud of the team for what we accomplished, and we tried to extend our season tonight.”
Many players sat in the clubhouse trying to comprehend that ending. Catcher Dillon Dingler was moving slowly and painfully after catching 263 pitches from eight Tigers pitchers and legging out a double in the 14th inning.
“It’s weird. It hasn’t set in yet,” Dingler said. “Obviously there’s a team for whom it’s not over.”
“It’s tough. I think it’s supposed to sting. It’s supposed to hurt,” Skubal said. “It’ll hurt for a while, and then you have to turn it into motivation so you never let yourself experience that feeling again. It’s tough, but I think the guys in this room will use it well. I know I will.”
Kerry Carpenter, whose two-run homer in the sixth inning contributed to Detroit’s score and whose four-hit game accounted for half of the Tigers’ total, thanked God for putting him in this position.
“That game was amazing,” Carpenter said. “It’s one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of. Losing it was very difficult.”
While the Mariners were celebrating, several Tigers players remained in the dugout. Some barely moved from their positions on the dugout railing, stunned that the game was over.
“Honestly, I was watching an incredible game,” reliever Kyle Finnegan said. “We stayed in it, fighting all the way. Both teams had plenty of chances. I saw some good pitchers stay composed and keep the game alive. I was just watching and applauding my teammates for working their hardest to stay in the game.”
For fans of a certain age, this dramatic play and heartbreaking ending brought back memories of the Tigers’ 2009 AL Central tiebreaker loss to Minnesota, a 13-inning marathon that left players in tears. That loss inspired several players, especially Miguel Cabrera, who two years later would be part of Detroit’s AL Central title run, a streak of four consecutive division titles, including the Tigers’ most recent ALCS berth in 2013.
This team came very close to ending that drought. It ended just like last season, but with twice the pain. The Tigers’ pitching kept the game going, but their offense struggled to score the run that would have clinched the victory. Carpenter became the third player in MLB postseason history to reach base safely six times in a single game, but Detroit held two runners on each in the eighth, eleventh, and twelfth innings, and no one scored after Zach McKinstry grounded out at home plate in the final inning.
The Tigers went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 players on base, an exclamation point on their struggles from September through the postseason.
“The whole game it felt like whoever made a mistake would lose the game,” said Javier Báez, whose daring slide to second base for a leadoff double in the sixth inning unnerved Mariners starter George Kirby and set up Carpenter’s home run off lefty Gabe Speier. “But it was a really good game from both sides. We just didn’t execute the way we wanted to with the bats.”
It brings a heartbreaking end to the Tigers’ season, which began with the Major League’s best record at the All-Star break, suffered a collapse in September that cost them the AL Central title, and then revitalized the team with a Wild Card Series win in Cleveland.
Senior reporter Jason Beck has been covering the Tigers for MLB.com since 2002.
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