McKinstry lifts Tigers over Mariners 3-2 in 11 innings in ALDS opener

SEATTLE (AP) — Zach McKinstry was banking on Carlos Vargas throwing him a sinker, and that's precisely what the All-Star third baseman got.

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 Vargas, a 99.6 mph sinker, and grounded it up the middle to score Spencer Torkelson from second base.

“I was kind of leaning on the, you know, he was going to throw 80% two-seams. And just kind of leaning on that and knowing what he was going to throw there,” McKinstry said. “Just trying to attack early.”

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.”

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.

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Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh reacts after popping out to Detroit Tigers third baseman Zach McKinstry during the 11th inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez reacts after the team's loss in Game 1 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Detroit Tigers left fielder Riley Greene, right, and second baseman Gleyber Torres celebrate after the team's win in Game 1 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez celebrates after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Detroit Tigers' Kerry Carpenter reacts after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Detroit Tigers' Spencer Torkelson runs home to score the go-ahead run off of a single hit by Zach McKinstry during the 11th inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Detroit Tigers' Zach McKinstry hits a single to score Spencer Torkelson for the go-ahead run during the 11th inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

As America’s aging roads fall further behind on much-needed repairs, cities and states are turning to artificial intelligence to spot the worst hazards and decide which fixes should come first.

Hawaii officials, for example, are giving away 1,000 dashboard cameras as they try to reverse a recent spike in traffic fatalities. The cameras will use AI to automate inspections of guardrails, road signs and pavement markings, instantly discerning between minor problems and emergencies that warrant sending a maintenance crew.

“This is not something where it’s looked at once a month and then they sit down and figure out where they’re going to put their vans,” said Richard Browning, chief commercial officer at Nextbase, which developed the dashcams and imagery platform for Hawaii.

After San Jose, California, started mounting cameras on street sweepers, city staff confirmed the system correctly identified potholes 97% of the time. Now they're expanding the effort to parking enforcement vehicles.

Texas, where there are more roadway lane miles than the next two states combined, is less than a year into a massive AI plan that uses cameras as well as cellphone data from drivers who enroll to improve safety.

Other states use the technology to inspect street signs or build annual reports about road congestion.

Hawaii drivers over the next few weeks will be able to sign up for a free dashcam valued at $499 under the “Eyes on the Road” campaign, which was piloted on service vehicles in 2021 before being paused due to wildfires.

Roger Chen, a University of Hawaii associate professor of engineering who is helping facilitate the program, said the state faces unique challenges in maintaining its outdated roadway infrastructure.

“Equipment has to be shipped to the island,” Chen said. “There’s a space constraint and a topography constraint they have to deal with, so it’s not an easy problem.”

Although the program also monitors such things as street debris and faded paint on lane lines, the companies behind the technology particularly tout its ability to detect damaged guardrails.

“They’re analyzing all guardrails in their state, every single day,” said Mark Pittman, CEO of Blyncsy, which combines the dashboard feeds with mapping software to analyze road conditions.

Hawaii transportation officials are well aware of the risks that can stem from broken guardrails. Last year, the state reached a $3.9 million settlement with the family of a driver who was killed in 2020 after slamming into a guardrail that had been damaged in a crash 18 months earlier but never repaired.

In October, Hawaii recorded its 106th traffic fatality of 2025 — more than all of 2024. It's unclear how many of the deaths were related to road problems, but Chen said the grim trend underscores the timeliness of the dashboard program.

San Jose has reported strong early success in identifying potholes and road debris just by mounting cameras on a few street sweepers and parking enforcement vehicles.

But Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat who founded two tech startups before entering politics, said the effort will be much more effective if cities contribute their images to a shared AI database. The system can recognize a road problem that it has seen before — even if it happened somewhere else, Mahan said.

“It sees, ‘Oh, that actually is a cardboard box wedged between those two parked vehicles, and that counts as debris on a roadway,’” Mahan said. “We could wait five years for that to happen here, or maybe we have it at our fingertips.”

San Jose officials helped establish the GovAI Coalition, which went public in March 2024 for governments to share best practices and eventually data. Other local governments in California, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and Washington, as well as the state of Colorado, are members.

Not all AI approaches to improving road safety require cameras.

Massachusetts-based Cambridge Mobile Telematics launched a system called StreetVision that uses cellphone data to identify risky driving behavior. The company works with state transportation departments to pinpoint where specific road conditions are fueling those dangers.

Ryan McMahon, the company's senior vice president of strategy & corporate development, was attending a conference in Washington, D.C., when he noticed the StreetVision software was showing a massive number of vehicles braking aggressively on a nearby road.

The reason: a bush was obstructing a stop sign, which drivers weren't seeing until the last second.

“What we’re looking at is the accumulation of events,” McMahon said. “That brought me to an infrastructure problem, and the solution to the infrastructure problem was a pair of garden shears."

Texas officials have been using StreetVision and various other AI tools to address safety concerns. The approach was particularly helpful recently when they scanned 250,000 lane miles (402,000 kilometers) to identify old street signs long overdue for replacement.

“If something was installed 10 or 15 years ago and the work order was on paper, God help you trying to find that in the digits somewhere,” said Jim Markham, who deals with crash data for the Texas Department of Transportation. “Having AI that can go through and screen for that is a force multiplier that basically allows us to look wider and further much faster than we could just driving stuff around.”

Experts in AI-based road safety techniques say what's being done now is largely just a stepping stone for a time when a large proportion of vehicles on the road will be driverless.

Pittman, the Blyncsy CEO who has worked on the Hawaii dashcam program, predicts that within eight years almost every new vehicle — with or without a driver — will come with a camera.

“How do we see our roadways today from the perspective of grandma in a Buick but also Elon and his Tesla?” Pittman said. “This is really important nuance for departments of transportation and city agencies. They're now building infrastructure for humans and automated drivers alike, and they need to start bridging that divide.”

Chelsea Palacio, public information manager for the City of San Jose, adjusts a small detection camera – which uses AI to detect road hazards and potholes – mounted inside one of the city's parking enforcement vehicles, in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

This City of San Jose parking enforcement vehicle is one of two equipped with a small detection camera that can detect road hazards and potholes, in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Chelsea Palacio, public information manager for the City of San Jose, showcases how a small detection camera uses AI to detect road hazards and potholes in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A small detection camera – which uses AI to detect road hazards and potholes – is seen mounted inside a parking enforcement vehicle, in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Chelsea Palacio, public information manager for the City of San Jose, showcases how a small detection camera uses AI to detect road hazards and potholes, in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)