Tigers' All-Stars come through in 9-3 win over Mariners and force a Game 5 in ALDS

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Tigers' All-Stars stepped up when they were needed the most.

Facing elimination and trailing the Seattle Mariners 3-0 in Game 4 of the American League Division Series on Wednesday, the Tigers' slumbering bats finally regained their thump and forced a winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday in Seattle.

Detroit scored all of its runs after the fourth inning in the 9-3 victory over the Mariners. The Tigers’ nine runs were their most in a postseason game since scoring 13 in Game 6 of the 1968 World Series.

Contributions to the victory came from up and down the lineup. But, it was All-Stars Riley Greene, Javier Báez, Gleyber Torres and Zach McKinstry who fueled the outburst.

Greene, who had gone hitless in his previous 11 at-bats, launched a rocket of relief over the right-center field fence to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead in the sixth.

Greene grounded out his first two times up and heard some boos after those at-bats before his blast off a hanging Gabe Speier slider. The 454-foot homer was the second-longest home run of Greene’s career, regular season and postseason, and longest at Comerica Park since a 453-foot shot by Gleyber Torres on Aug. 29, 2023.

“I haven’t hit a ball like that in a while,” Greene said of his first career postseason homer. “It feels pretty good, and I want to do it more often.”

Greene led the Tigers with 36 home runs, but slumped down the stretch as Detroit squandered a huge lead in the AL Central and finishing a game behind Cleveland.

“He is a tough kid. He’s had to endure a lot,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “I play him every day. He’s in the middle of the order. He gets managed against, and he comes up big right when you need it. So that was a big swing.”

Báez, who wasn't on Detroit's postseason roster last season due to injury, drove in four runs. His two-run shot capped the four-run sixth inning that gave the Tigers a 7-3 lead. Baez had just one RBI and one extra-base hit in this postseason before Wednesday.

“I think when everything clicks together, the pitching and the hitting and everything we do as a team, you know, we can be really dangerous,” Báez said.

Torres, who had scored just one run in the postseason despite batting first or second in the order, contributed a solo homer and reached base three times.

McKinstry had gone 1 for 19 in the postseason before his three-hit outing Wednesday, including an RBI single.

“It wasn’t just the big swings,” Hinch said. “I love the big swings. But there’s also some singles in there.”

Putting the ball in play was something the Tigers struggled to do against the Guardians in the Wild Card Series and again in this series. Their offense had struck out more times than any other playoff team. That changed Wednesday, as they struck out just three times.

“Hitting's contagious and not hitting is also kind of contagious, too,” said first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who had two hits and scored a run.

Now, the Tigers must return to Seattle. But, they'll have their ace, Tarik Skubal, on the mound. They'll look to take some offensive momentum along the way.

“We have to figure out a way to score earlier,” Torres said. “I know (Skubal) is awesome, but we have to help him.”

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Detroit Tigers' Gleyber Torres celebrates after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning in Game 4 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers' Zach McKinstry follows through on an RBI single during the sixth inning in Game 4 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers' Riley Greene rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning in Game 4 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Detroit Tigers' Javier Báez watches his two-run home run during the sixth inning in Game 4 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

HONOLULU (AP) — Survivors of the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor have long been the center of a remembrance ceremony held each year on the military base’s waterfront.

But today only 12 are still alive — all centenarians — and this year none were able to make the pilgrimage to Hawaii to mark the event Sunday.

That means no one who attended had firsthand memories of serving during the attack, which killed more than 2,300 troops and catapulted the U.S. into World War 2. The development is not a surprise and is an evolution of an ongoing trend. As survivors fade, their descendants and the public are increasingly turning to other ways of learning about the bombing.

“The idea of not having a survivor there for the first time — I just, I don’t know — it hurt my heart in a way I can’t describe,” said Kimberlee Heinrichs, whose 105-year-old father Ira “Ike” Schab had to cancel plans to fly in from Oregon after falling ill.

Survivors have been present every year in recent memory except for 2020, when the Navy and the National Park Service closed the observance to the general public because of coronavirus pandemic health risks.

The ceremony began with a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. local, the same time the attack began on Dec. 7, 1941. Solemn rituals followed.

Fighter jets flew overhead in “missing man formation," in which one jet peels off to symbolize those lost. Survivors typically present wreaths to honor the dead, though active duty troops have assumed this job in recent years. Survivors also would rise to salute active duty sailors who themselves salute as their ship passes the USS Arizona Memorial, which sits above submerged hull of the battleship sunk in the attack.

About 2,000 survivors attended the 50th anniversary event in 1991. A few dozen have showed in recent decades. Last year, only two made it. That is out of an estimated 87,000 troops stationed on Oahu that day.

Many survivors were jovial despite the occasion, happy to catch up with old friends and pose for photographs. Even so, harrowing recollections were seldom far from their minds.

In 2023, Harry Chandler gazed across the water while telling an Associated Press reporter how he was raising the flag at a mobile hospital in the hills above the base when he saw Japanese planes fly in and drop bombs. Chandler and his fellow Navy hospital corpsmen jumped in trucks to help the injured.

He spoke of seeing the Arizona explode, and of hearing sailors trapped on the capsized USS Oklahoma desperately tapping on their ship's hull to summon rescue. He helped care for Oklahoma sailors after crews cut holes in the battleship.

“I can still see what was happening,” Chandler said. He died the next year at a senior living center in Tequesta, Florida.

The bombing has long held different meanings for different people, the historian Emily S. Rosenberg wrote in her book “A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory.”

Some say it highlights the need for a well-prepared military and a vigilant foreign policy. To some it evokes then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt administration’s “ineptitude or deceit” and the unfair scapegoating of the military. Others focus on the “treachery” of Japan or the heroic acts of individual troops, she wrote.

Asked what he wanted Americans to know about Pearl Harbor, Chandler said: “Be prepared.”

“We should have known that was going to happen. The intelligence has to be better,” he said.

Lou Conter, who was Arizona's last living survivor when he died last year at 102, told the AP in 2019 he liked to attend to remember those who lost their lives.

“It’s always good to come back and pay respect to them and give them the top honors that they deserve,” Conter said.

Heinrichs’ father has been six times since 2016. The former tuba player on the USS Dobbin likes to go not only to remember those killed but also in place of his late band mates; his three brothers who fought in World War II; and the now-deceased Pearl Harbor survivors he has met.

Retired National Park Service Pearl Harbor historian Daniel Martinez said the circumstances resemble the early 20th century when Civil War veterans were dying in increasing numbers. Awareness grew that soon they wouldn't be able to share their stories of Gettysburg and other battles, he said.

Martinez knew something similar could happen with Pearl Harbor survivors and recorded their oral histories. During a 1998 convention, he conducted interviews 12 hours a day for three days. The Park Service today has nearly 800 interviews, most on video.

“They remain as a part of the national memory of a day that changed America and changed the world,” Martinez said.

The Park Service shows some in its Pearl Harbor museum and aims to include more after renovations, said David Kilton, the agency's Pearl Harbor interpretation, education and visitor services lead.

The Library of Congress has collections from 535 Pearl Harbor survivors, including interviews, letters, photos and diaries. Over 80% are online. They are part of the library's Veterans History Project of firsthand recollections of veterans who served in World War I onward. Many were recorded by relatives, Eagle Scouts and other amateurs interested in documenting history.

The Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors gives presentations in schools and marches in parades to share the stories of their families. The California chapter has added six new members this year, including two great-grandchildren of survivors.

“When they’re all gone, we’re still going to be here," said Deidre Kelley, the group's president. “And it’s our intent to keep the memory alive as long as we’re alive.”

WWII veteran Jack Stowe, left, shakes hands with a Navy service member in dress blues after the 84th Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Rear Adm. Brad Collins, commander of Navy Region Hawaii, salutes as he departs after the 84th Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

WWII veteran Milton Ripple signs a newspaper before the 84th Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Ceremony, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

World War II veterans and government officials salute during the 84th Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Ceremony, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

The USS Arizona Memorial is seen before the 84th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

FILE - Pearl Harbor survivors watch a vintage WWII airplane fly over Pearl Harbor at the ceremony commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 2013, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia, File)

FILE - American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - A photo of Pearl Harbor survivor Lou Conter, 101, as a young sailor is displayed at his home in Grass Valley, Calif., Nov. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

FILE - From left to right, Pearl Harbor survivors Harry Chandler, Ken Stevens, Herb Elfring and Ira "Ike" Schab sit during the 82nd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony Dec. 7, 2023, at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin, File)

FILE - Pearl Harbor survivor Archie Odom, of Federal Way, Wash., salutes during a moment of silence in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1991, in remembrance of those killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Odom was a signalman on the bridge of the USS West Virginia when the Japanese attacked. (AP Photo/John Gaps III, File)