Tigers are nearly fried after Mariners' ALDS supporting cast showed up to help cook

If you tuned into Game 3 of the ALDS, you saw a tale of two ballparks crammed into one. On one side: a city starving for a cathartic October roar, a packed lower bowl in Detroit that waited out a three-hour rain delay and begged for a spark. On the other: a Mariners club that walked in like a crew that’s been here before, calm and opportunistic, content to let the game come to them instead of forcing it. The pause didn’t dull Seattle; it sharpened them.

And the most welcome twist? After Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez did the heavy lifting in Games 1 and 2, Game 3 belonged to the role players. This was the night the depth pieces grabbed the mic — pressure at-bats and situational swings, turning what was intended to be a tense road environment into a slow simmer. Postseason series flip not only on star power, but on the margins. The Mariners owned the margins.

Mariners’ role players silence Detroit and shift the series

The tone flipped in the top of the third. Victor Robles manufactured a run with his legs and instincts, crossing on a J.P. Crawford knock, then Crawford came home on Randy Arozarena’s timely swing. It wasn’t loud, it was relentless, the kind of inning that frays a pitcher’s focus and tests a defense’s nerves. That frame said, out loud, that Seattle didn’t need a thunderclap to control the night; a steady drumbeat would do.

Then came the haymakers. Eugenio Suárez, hitless through the first two games of the postseason, finally got a mistake he could ride and didn’t miss. Crawford, already in the middle of everything, added a solo shot of his own and reached in each of his first three trips.

When your bottom third is stacking quality at-bats, that’s the postseason cheat code: the 6–9 spots combined for four hits and three RBI, exactly the kind of balance that separates contenders from pretenders.

By the time the eighth inning rolled around, the supporting cast had done more than push runs across, they’d drained the building. A chorus of boos washed over the home dugout, and pockets of fans headed for the exits before the final out.

The box score will rightly tip its cap to the headliners who set the series tone, but Game 3 will be remembered for who followed. If you’re the Mariners, that’s the blueprint you pack for the rest of October — because when the role players cook like this, the whole kitchen heats up.