SEATTLE -- The Tigers were prepared to ride the left arm of Tarik Skubal as long as they could Friday night at T-Mobile Park to get to the ALCS. They got six innings and a winner-take-all postseason record 13 strikeouts out of him . Then, amazingly, they still had another nine innings to fill.

Somehow, they nearly pulled it off.

A year after the Tigers rode Skubal and pitching chaos to the brink of the ALCS, they essentially did both in the same game in an effort to cross the threshold. Seven pitchers combined for 8 1/3 innings of relief in Detroit's 3-2 , 15-inning loss to the Mariners in Game 5 of the ALDS. The trusted late-inning trio of Kyle Finnegan, Tyler Holton and Will Vest combined for just three.

“Going into the game in a perfect world, you know, with Tarik, Will, Finnegan

See Full Page