Mariners salvage win vs. Tigers, beating Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Apr 2, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — Looking for a summation of the multiple personalities of the Mariners offense, the opening homestand of the 2025 season offered examples of all the variations.

There was the soul-crushing strikeout-prone bunch that can’t seem to stop swinging and missing against even mediocre pitchers.

They also showed the homer-happy side, using the long ball to win two games vs. the A’s and blasting three in a series-opening loss.

But the juxtaposition over the last two games of the series vs. Detroit offered reasons why fans rip their eyebrows out in frustration while still stubbornly believing this team, specifically this offense, can be so much more than it’s been for the past few seasons.

A day after being held to one hit by Casey Mize — a pitcher that has made 24 MLB appearances in the last four seasons — the Mariners went out and beat Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young award winner, 3-2, to end the opening homestand on a somewhat positive note and avoid being swept in the second series of the season.

Victor Robles ripped a two-run double in the second inning and Dylan Moore added a solo homer in the fourth to build an unexpected lead for starter Luis Castillo.

How unexpected? Skubal allowed two runs or fewer in 24 of his 31 starts last season.

The Mariners pitching staff made the three runs hold up. Castillo gave up a pair of runs in the fifth, that whittled the lead down to one run. But he still pitched seven innings, giving the Mariners a quality start.

Gabe Speier worked an easy 1-2-3 eighth. But the ninth was far from easy for Andrés Muñoz. He walked the first two batters of the inning on nine pitches to start the problems. He regrouped and struck out Trey Sweeney. But when pinch-hitter Dillon Dingler was able to sneak a soft single through the left side, the Tigers had loaded the bases with one out.

Extra innings loomed.

Instead, Muñoz got pinch-hitter Javier Baez to hit a soft ground ball to third base where Moore fielded it quickly and fired to Mitch Garver for the force out at home.

Having found his command, Munõz overwhelmed Zach McKinstry with a three-pitch strikeout to notch a save that would make Fernando Rodney proud.

With players from his alma mater Seattle University watching, Skubal

Skubal pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits with three walks and eight strikeouts, taking the loss.

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