AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS VS MARINERS

October 4, 2025

Dan Wilson

T-Mobile Park

Seattle Mariners

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Tigers - 3, Mariners - 2

Q. Dan, knowing that a righty was on deck and Baez is generally a free swinger, did you think about walking McKinstry in that situation?

DAN WILSON: Yeah. We talked about it. You know, obviously Vargy gets the ball on the ground, and that's what he does best, righty or lefty, and, you know, got the ball on the ground. McKinstry able to find a hole for it and get it through.

But yeah. You know, a tough one there, and we just wanted to get the ball on the ground, which he did.

Q. Dan, after everything your offense has done in the last month or two, are you surprised that they weren't able to produce more consistently tonight?

DAN WILSON: A big blast from Julio, able to get some traffic in a couple of different innings, just not able to convert as much as we would have wanted to tonight.

But, you know, I thought we had some good at-bats. We did grind, what we do. That's how we run our offense, is grind out some at-bats, and just weren't able to get enough back to back to kind of put the damage that we wanted to put up.

Q. Dan, just how would you assess George's performance tonight? It seemed like he was rolling there and then just got into a little bit of trouble.

DAN WILSON: Yeah. I thought he threw the ball well tonight. You know, I thought the second and third inning, a couple of jams, but really pitched out of it well. You know, and I thought his slider had some good depth to it tonight. He threw some good ones down in the zone, kind of disappeared.

And Carpenter able to get something out of the zone and drive it out of the ballpark.

Q. You mentioned Carpenter there. What's George trying to do in that situation? What's the approach there? Do you have Speier warming up there? What's the consideration you give there?

DAN WILSON: Yeah. Those are the tough ones, and I thought George was continuing to throw the ball well, and, you know, with Carpenter, you're trying to keep it down in the zone or trying to get him to chase up in the zone, and he was able to get to one up there and drive it out of the ballpark.

Q. Dan, was there any thought in continuing with George for the sixth? I know he was at 94 pitches, but was that a consideration?

DAN WILSON: No, not in the sixth. I think George gave us the 94 and threw a great ballgame and gave us a chance there.

I thought our offense did a good job of coming back that inning later to kind of tie that score up and make it tight and, you know, make it a ballgame, and I thought that was -- what our guys do, we fight, and we got back into it there and just weren't able to get the lead.

Q. Hi. Just questions about how you were thinking about as things were going into the extra innings, how you were utilizing your bullpen. You had options like Logan Gilbert. You kind of went with Brash, followed by Munoz, then Vargas in that final inning. Just your thought process in those moments going for those innings?

DAN WILSON: Yeah. That's typically how we run it, and those guys have done such a great job for us all season long, did a great job tonight. Muny being able to get two innings there was really big. He was super efficient, attacked the zone and got ahead. So really nice job there.

That's how we run it, and I thought all the guys coming out of the bullpen tonight threw the ball extremely well.

Q. Dan, was there any consideration of going to Bryce at any point late in the game, or are you trying to balance the possibility of having to start him later in the series?

DAN WILSON: Yeah. I think that's kind of the possibility, and we kind of were just weighing that pretty heavily. And, you know, that's a -- Vargy's been good for us all season long and has come up big, especially in those kinds of situations, and I thought he was the right guy to be out there.

Q. Dan, to go back to the Carpenter home run, when you have Kirby out there, you have Speier in the pen, what kind of goes back and forth in your head as far as leaving Kirby out there versus going to Speier, and what led to the decision you ultimately made?

DAN WILSON: Yeah. It's a tough one, and you do the best you can and try to take the information that you have and what you're seeing.

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

Q. Dan, what's the challenge now in a short series, and you're facing Tarik Skubal tomorrow? What's the challenge? With the quick turnaround here?

DAN WILSON: Yeah. One of our strengths is bouncing back, and we have to do that, and Skubal is a guy, obviously, that we have seen a couple of times this year. He's thrown the ball well in Cleveland, and we've got to come out tomorrow and come right back at him and bounce back.

And our guys are good at that. That's what they do, and I think we'll be ready.

Q. Dan, just curious, what did you make out of Julio and his at-bats tonight, and what tone do you think that will set for tomorrow in his approach against a guy like Skubal?

DAN WILSON: Yeah. Again, I thought the way he approached tonight hitting the ball, you know, right center area there for the homer and then him being able to use right field at a different time, we've talked about that a lot with Julio, that's where he's at his best, and being able to use the whole field and being able to drive the ball the other way. And that's a really good sign.