You need your stars to show up in the clutch come October. Julio Rodríguez answered the call on Sunday night.
The star outfielder’s RBI double in the bottom of the eighth proved to be the winning moment in the Seattle Mariners’ 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in Game 2 of the ALDS, evening the series.
The hit was timely—the Tigers had leveled the score in the top of the frame on Spencer Torkelson’s two-run double after Seattle’s pitchers had limited the Mariners to just two hits through seven innings.
That set the stage for Rodríguez to be the hero and he delivered, following Cal Raleigh’s double with one of his own, thrilling MLB fans and pundits in the process:
The Mariners came into Sunday in borderline dire straits, down a game in the series and facing defending Cy Young-winner Tarik Skubal. And while Skubal was largely excellent through seven innings (two runs, five hits, a walk, nine strikeouts), second baseman Jorge Polanco took him deep twice.
It’s hard enough to get a homer off Skubal, but two in one game? That’s incredibly rare:
Polanco also joined some pretty rarefied air in Mariners’ history:
Seattle’s pitchers were also pretty fantastic throughout, holding the Tigers to two runs and just three hits, led by starter Luis Castillo (4.2 innings, one hit, four walks, three strikeouts). Andrés Muñoz closed the door in the ninth, and we’ve got ourselves a tied series heading back to Detroit thanks to Rodríguez.
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