Jack Flaherty leaned forward in the dugout.
He gripped his knees.
He watched intently as reliever Tommy Kahnle prepared to pitch to slugger Cal Raleigh with two outs in the fourth inning, responsible for the runner on second base. He hung his head when Raleigh ripped Kahnle’s first-pitch changeup up the middle and into center field, driving in another run.
The Detroit Tigers lost, 8-4, to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, Oct. 7, in Game 3 of the ALDS in the 2025 MLB playoffs at Comerica Park, with Flaherty surrendering four runs (three earned runs) across 3⅓ innings in his second start of the postseason.
ALDS Game 4 looms
With the loss, the Tigers (1-2) must win Game 4 against the Mariners (2-1) on Wednesday (3:08 p.m., FS1) at Comerica Park to avoid elimination.
Right-hander Casey Mize is scheduled to start for the Tigers, opposed by Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller.
If the Tigers lose, their season will end. If the Tigers win, they will travel to T-Mobile Park in Seattle for a winner-take-all Game 5, which is set for Friday.
Left-hander Tarik Skubal is lined up to start Game 5.
The winner of the ALDS will advance to play the Blue Jays or Yankees in the ALCS, which begins Sunday.
Too little, too late
The Tigers haven’t won at Comerica Park since Sept. 6 in the regular season.
In the Game 3 loss, there was plenty of blame to go around for the Tigers, including struggles from Flaherty, four hits without any walks from the offense over the first eight innings (before three hits and one walk in a three-run ninth) and two errors from the defense.
The Tigers’ offense didn’t support him, but Flaherty — a veteran right-hander who won the 2024 World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers — allowed four runs (three earned runs) on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts across 3⅓ innings, throwing 76 pitches.
In the ninth, Spencer Torkelson and pinch-hitter Andy Ibáñez cut the Tigers’ deficit to 8-4, thanks to Torkelson’s two-run double and Ibáñez’s RBI single. Both hits came against left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson.
It wasn’t enough for a comeback.
The Mariners called upon right-handed reliever Andrés Muñoz — an elite closer who earned the save in Game 2 — to stop the slide in the ninth inning. He answered by getting a flyout and inducing a game-ending double play, needing just nine pitches.
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Logan Gilbert beats Kerry Carpenter
A big moment occurred in the fifth inning.
Kerry Carpenter stepped to the plate for a third time against right-hander Logan Gilbert with runners on the corners and one out. If there was ever a moment for the Tigers to get a game-changing swing, this would’ve been it.
At the time, the Tigers trailed 4-0.
The big swing didn’t happen: Carpenter smacked a slider into the ground and rolled into a force out. To beat Carpenter, Gilbert threw all six pitches — four sliders, one splitter — near the bottom of the strike zone.
Eugenio Suárez blasts home run
The Mariners scored two runs apiece in the third and fourth inning.
The first run came on an error by the Tigers.
After Victor Robles’ leadoff double to the left-field corner, J.P. Crawford smacked a single into left-center. Left fielder Riley Greene made an inaccurate two-hop throw to catcher Dillon Dingler, trying to hold Robles at third base. Robles had already decided to stop, but he took advantage of Greene’s mistake — sprinting home and scoring with a feet-first slide — when the ball skipped past Dingler.
That put the Tigers behind, 1-0, in the third inning.
The next three runs were charged to Flaherty: Randy Arozarena’s RBI single in the third, Eugenio Suárez’s solo home run in the fourth and Raleigh’s single in the fourth.
Suárez — the former Tigers prospect whom the Mariners acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the July 31 trade deadline to supplement their offense — received two middle-middle fastballs from Flaherty, even though he crushes fastballs and struggles to hit sliders and curveballs.
The result?
Suárez fouled off the first fastball, then he demolished the second fastball for a 422-foot home run.
Kerry Carpenter’s error
After four runs off Flaherty, the Mariners extended their lead to 5-1 with Crawford’s solo home run off left-handed reliever Brant Hurter with two outs in the sixth inning.
An error in the eighth inning led to another run.
Carpenter — forced to play right field because Colt Keith is limited to designated hitter in his return from injury — failed to catch a routine fly ball induced by right-handed reliever Keider Montero with a runner on first base and one out. The ball skipped off the top of Carpenter’s glove for a fielding error, advancing the runner to third base.
Crawford drove in the runner by delivering a sacrifice fly, which would’ve been the third out had Carpenter not missed what should’ve been an easy flyout.
Just like that, the Mariners had a 6-1 advantage.
The Mariners made it 8-1 on Raleigh’s two-run home run to left-center off right-handed reliever Brenan Hanifee in the ninth.
In total, the Mariners hit three home runs.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers on brink of elimination in ALDS after 8-4 Game 3 loss to Seattle Mariners
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
