SEATTLE – To avoid suffering an embarrassing three-game series sweep and let the season-opening homestand devolve from bad to awful, the Mariners simply have to find a way to beat the Tigers, something they’ve done once in the past eight games.
So, who will they be facing on Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park?
Oh, just some guy named Tarik Skubal.
Sound familiar?
Yes, the same Tarik Skubal who was the unanimous winner of the AL Cy Young last season and a former Seattle University star.
The Mariners knew the hard-throwing lefty was looming in the series finale but couldn’t find a way to win either of the first two games of the series vs. Detroit, including Tuesday’s lackluster 4-1 loss.
Seattle mustered only one hit on the evening.
Victor Robles led off the bottom of the first with a crisp single to right off Detroit starter Casey Mize. He advanced to second on Cal Raleigh’s walk. Both runners moved up a base on Randy Arozarena’s ground out to shortstop. But when Luke Raley struck out, the Mariners best and only scoring opportunity against Mize and over the first seven innings ended.
Mize, a No. 1 overall pick in 2018, has battled elbow and back issues, requiring surgeries for both injuries that caused him to basically miss the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Last season, he posted a 2-6 record with a 4.49 ERA in 20 starts and two relief appearances in 2024.
In his first start of 2025, he pitched 52/3 scoreless innings, allowing the one hit with three walks and five strikeouts. At one point, he’d retired 14 consecutive hitters.
The Mariners didn’t get quite the same performance from Logan Gilbert, who was the 14th overall pick in that same draft. Dealing with some inconsistencies with his slider – one of his most reliable pitchers – early on, Gilbert had to battle through the early innings, sapping his pitch count.
His final line: five innings pitched, three runs allowed on five hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts.
Riley Greene stayed on a 3-2 slider in the bottom of the strike zone, doubling to right. He later scored when Kerry Carpenter continued his careerlong torture of the Mariners. The lefty-swinging platoon player sliced a two-out single to right field to score Greene for a 1-0 lead. Carpenter advanced to second on the play following a poor throw all the way home from Robles.
That loomed large when Colt Keith followed with a single to left on a slider he could handle, allowing Carpenter to score and make it 2-0.
The Tigers tacked on another run in the third. Zach McKinstry led off with a single on a slider and scored when Spencer Torkelson ambushed a first-pitch fastball, doubling over Robles head in right field to drive in another run.
It was the last hit Gilbert would allow. He retired the next nine batters he faced, striking out seven of them.
He also threw only one more slider after allowing the leadoff single to McKinstry the remainder of his outing.
The Mariners’ only run came in the seventh inning. Randy Arozarena worked a leadoff walk against Beau Brieske. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on Raley’s ground ball to third. With one out, Rowdy Tellez hit a line drive to left field that was caught by a sliding Zach McKinstry. Arozarena tagged up and sprinted home .
Detroit got that run back almost immediately when Greene led off the top of the eighth with an opposite-field solo homer that made it 4-1.