Seattle — It’s getting interesting, for sure. But it’s not for real. Not really. Not yet.
The Tigers have gamely fought their way back into the playoff conversation. They won their sixth straight road series Thursday, beating the Seattle Mariners 11-0 in the rubber match at T-Mobile Park.
It was their 12th shutout, their fifth win in six games on this West Coast and they are 34-21 since June 1. At game’s end, they were four games back in the Central Division and one game out of the final wild-card spot.
All good things
And yet, they are still under .500 (56-59). Maybe by the end of the season, being under .500 won’t be a roadblock to the postseason. But for now, the first fight is to get to and surpass .500 to establish the legitimacy of the chase.
This surge, though, has been impressive. The last time the Tigers won six straight road series was in 1988. They’ve scored eight or more runs in seven of their last eight games and will carry a plus-37 run differential on this trip into San Francisco Friday.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 11, Mariners 0
And the last time they scored a run against Mariners’ starter Bryce Miller was, never. Not one in 25 innings.
All-Star catcher Dillon Dingler put an end to that streak right away Thursday.
After Kevin McGonigle led off the game with a walk, Dingler slugged his 26th homer of the season, driving it over a leaping Julio Rodriguez and into the J-Rod Squad seats in right-center.
Riley Greene and Colt Keith followed with back-to-back doubles and the Tigers not only broke on top with three runs, they worked Miller for 40 pitches.
Dingler drove in McGonigle again in the second inning, this time with a two-out single to right.
Dingler, who came into the game with the third-highest position-player WAR in baseball (5.4 per FanGraphs), has 78 RBI, 38 of them with two outs, the most in baseball.
McGonigle’s two-run homer in the seventh (his 12th) ignited a four-run inning to effectively put the game on ice, though the Tigers insisted on adding another three runs to the total against position player Victor Robles in the ninth.
The game felt relatively secure before that outburst, thanks to some crafty pitching by Tigers’ lefty Framber Valdez.
He breezed through the first five innings, allowing just two hits and no hard-hit balls. The Mariners tested him in the sixth, with Colt Emerson and Randy Arozarena dropping singles with one out.
But Valdez punched out Dominic Calzone, freezing him with a sinker, and got the ever-dangerous Rodriguez to bounce out to third, coming back from a 3-0 count.
Valdez established his sinker early in the game, especially his ability to locate it on the inner third against the Mariners’ right-handed hitters. That opened up the plate for his curveball, slider and changeup.
He used his curveball off the sinker to dispatch both Calzone and Rodriguez to get out the jam in the sixth inning.
Valdez went seven full innings for the second straight start. He allowed just five hits with five strikeouts. He induced eight ground ball outs and three double-play grounders.
This story will be updated.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers keep playoff push alive with 11-0 rout in Seattle
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
