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SEATTLE — Zach McKinstry singled home the tiebreaking run with two outs in the 11th inning and the Detroit Tigers outlasted the Seattle Mariners for a 3-2 victory in Game 1 of their AL Division Series on Saturday.

Kerry Carpenter hit a two-run homer in the fifth for the resurgent Tigers, who squandered a huge lead in the AL Central and nearly collapsed entirely down the stretch before squeezing into the playoffs.

After winning their Wild Card Series at Cleveland, they can take a commanding 2-0 lead in this best-of-five matchup against AL West champion Seattle with dominant ace Tarik Skubal on the mound Sunday.

“All year long, I feel like we were either down or we were up,” McKinstry said. “We’re up right now, and we’re getting a lot of wins. Things are going our way.”

In the first extra-inning game of this postseason, McKinstry pounced on the first pitch he saw from reliever Carlos Vargas, a 99.6 mph sinker, and grounded it up the middle to score Spencer Torkelson from second base.

Torkelson, who walked leading off the 11th, advanced to second on a wild pitch by Vargas earlier in the inning.

Unlike during the regular season, there is no automatic runner placed at second base to begin extra innings in the postseason.

It was the Mariners’ second consecutive postseason loss at home that went extra innings. They were beaten 1-0 by Houston in 18 innings on Oct. 15, 2022.

Will Vest worked two perfect innings for the win, and Keider Montero got three outs for his first major league save. Montero extended the scoreless start to his postseason career and put the finishing touches on seven innings of one-run ball by Detroit’s bullpen.

The Mariners struck first, thanks to a solo homer by Julio Rodríguez in the fourth inning. Rodríguez, fresh off his second season with at least 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases, launched an elevated four-seam fastball from rookie Troy Melton, who was making just his fifth career start.

Seattle’s lead didn’t last long, though. Carpenter capitalized on an elevated fastball from right-hander George Kirby in a two-strike count, depositing it into the right-field seats to give the Tigers a 2-1 advantage.

Left-handed reliever Gabe Speier was warming up in the Seattle bullpen, but manager Dan Wilson elected to have Kirby face the left-handed-hitting Carpenter.

“We thought George continued to throw the ball pretty well there and still had pretty good stuff and a lot left in the tank,” Wilson said, “and he had been in a couple of tough spots earlier, but really pitched out of it well. And, like I said, (Carpenter) was able to get to the one up in the zone.”

It was the fifth career homer for Carpenter off Kirby, making him the fourth player in major league history with five or more hits off a particular pitcher — and all of them home runs. It also was the second career postseason homer for Carpenter, who set a career high with 26 during the regular season.

“I tend to see him well,” Carpenter said. “He’s so good, though. He has great stuff, and in the first inning he was really good. So yeah, I’m pretty confident against anybody I go against. I was seeing him well tonight, especially after that first at-bat.”

Kirby was otherwise sharp in his second postseason start, striking out five across five innings.

Rodríguez ensured the Mariners did not go down easily, poking an RBI single to right in the sixth that tied it at 2.

Seattle closer Andrés Muñoz worked two scoreless innings, the first time he had done so since he was a rookie in 2019 with San Diego.

The Mariners didn’t get hits from any players besides Rodríguez and AL MVP contender Cal Raleigh, who chipped in three singles for his third career three-hit game in the postseason.

“All of our bullpen guys, including Troy, even though Troy started, it was a job well done in an environment where the fans were looking to help them get anything started,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We would squash the rally every time.”

Up next

Mariners RHP Luis Castillo is expected to start against Skubal in Game 2. Castillo is 1-2 with a 1.83 ERA in 19 2/3 postseason innings with 19 strikeouts. Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, pitched 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball in the Wild Card Series opener against Cleveland. He has a 2.03 ERA in four postseason appearances.

PHILADELPHIA — Shohei Ohtani struck out not once, twice, three times but four — four! — straight times and almost snuffed a late Dodgers rally.

The Oh-4 nearly cost Los Angeles.

Good news for the Dodgers, Ohtani the ace was about as good as he needed to be on the mound — with a little pop from teammate Teoscar Hernández to help along the way — for the two-way star to win his playoff pitching debut.

With more than 45,000 Phillies fans against him, Ohtani settled down after a three-run second to strike out nine over six innings and lead the Dodgers to a 5-3 win over Philadelphia on Saturday night in Game 1 of their NL Division Series.

Ohtani retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced, and the right-hander held Trea Turner, NL home run and RBI champion Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper to 0 for 9 with five strikeouts against him.

Even when Ohtani’s bat went cold, he warmed up over 89 pitches in a deep outing for him.

“The reason why I’m a two-way player is because that’s who I am, and it’s what I can do,” Ohtani said through a translator.

Hernández rallied the Dodgers with a three-run homer after Ohtani struck out with two runners on base in the seventh inning, and three Los Angeles relievers combined for three scoreless innings.

Alex Vesia retired pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa with the bases loaded in the eighth to preserve the lead. Roki Sasaki worked the ninth for his first career save.

Ohtani and Sasaki are the first Japanese-born starter and reliever to earn a win and a save in the same postseason game.

“This epitomizes compartmentalizing. He’s essentially two people in one night, in one game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “To kind of look at the at-bats that he took tonight and how he struggled offensively, but to separate that and just be a pitcher, and weather that inning. And to go out there and give us six innings, keep us in the ballgame, I just don’t know any human that can manage that, those emotions, and how do you not take that to the mound? So, yeah, we continue to just witness history.”

Ohtani stepped on the field shortly before the first playoff start of his career and was booed so voraciously by Phillies fans, they drowned out the hype video playing on the big screen.

A three-time MVP, Ohtani had admitted to nerves about playing in front of a crowd — much less facing the NL East champions’ loaded lineup — known for tormenting fans through four hours of hell.

Phillies fans taunted Ohtani with elongated chants of “Shoooo-hei!” as he gamely tried to match the moment for the Dodgers.

“I was a little nervous imagining myself out there on the mound,” Ohtani said. ”But once I was on the mound and on the field, that went away and it was really me focusing.”

Ohtani led off the game at the plate and struck out on three pitches against Cristopher Sánchez. Ohtani was called out on strikes in the third and fifth.

Ohtani whiffed again in the seventh with no outs and two runners on against Matt Strahm. Following a Mookie Betts popout, Hernández silenced a roaring Phillies crowd with an opposite-field homer to right off Strahm for a 5-3 lead.

Ohtani struck out three times against Sánchez for the second time this season. Only two other pitchers this season fanned Ohtani three times in a game.

He’s been mired in a career hitting funk in Philly.

In the regular season, Ohtani has yet to hit any of his 250 homers in Philadelphia. He’s batting .250 lifetime in Citizens Bank Park with just two extra-base hits and four RBIs over 12 games and 44 at-bats. He’s struck out 16 times.

The Japanese sensation didn’t pitch for the Dodgers last season while recovering from a second elbow surgery, in September 2023. He still became the first player with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases as the Dodgers won the World Series over the New York Yankees.

The 31-year-old Ohtani has slowly built up his pitch count this year and struck out 62 batters over 47 innings with a 2.87 ERA in 14 regular-season starts.

The Dodgers hope a day off before Game 2 on Monday night can help Ohtani with the rest he needs to make a strong return for a potential Game 4 or Game 5 start.

“I think, for Sho, we can’t even begin to fathom what it’s like to do both things, especially with the added intensity of the postseason,” Dodgers president Andrew Friedman said before the game. “I think getting a day off between Games 1 and 2, after Game 2, I think it’s all helpful. There’s no question it’s taxing. It’s taxing on everybody. And then you layer on his ability to do both, and it’s challenging.”