For four innings Wednesday, the Detroit Tigers looked dead in the water.
Instead, they rallied to take Game 5 against the Seattle Mariners with explosive 9-3 win in Game 4 on Wednesday.
Seattle entered the game with a 2–1 series lead and led 3–0 in four innings with a chance to close out the series. Meanwhile, the lifeless crowd in Detroit was nowhere to be seen.
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Everything changed in the fifth. The Tigers chased Mariners starter Bryce Miller with a Dillon Dingler RBI double to score their first run. Pinch hitter Jamai Jones scored Dingler with an RBI double. And Javi Baez brought the crowd back to life with his base hit, scoring Jones to tie the game 3-3.
From that point on, it was all Tigers, thanks in large part to a burst in the sixth inning.
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Riley Greene started the sixth with a home run for a 4–3 lead and Detroit's first lead in the series since winning Game 1.
Zach McKinstry added an RBI single. And Báez opened the game with a two-run home run, turning Seattle's hopes of winning into an escape from Detroit.
The sailors never recovered.
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The Tigers went on the attack, making a pair of insurance runs. And Detroit's bullpen shut down Seattle's offense for the rest of the game.
When the game was over, the once dormant Detroit Bats had marked Seattle's pitching with 13 hits and three home runs. Gleyber Torres joined Green and Báez in the home run column with a solo shot in the seventh.
And the Tigers tied the score 2-2 to force a decisive fifth game after their season was on the rocks. The series returns to Seattle on Friday (4:40 p.m. ET, FS1), where the winner will earn a berth in the ALCS.
