Guardians explode in 8th, even series with Tigers | Wild Card Recap

League, every goal, every game live on Paramount+. This just in to CBS sports HQ. We are all tied up now between the Guardians and the Tigers in the wild card round of the MLB playoffs over in the American League. That was the first homer that got things started for the Guardians, but really, when they piled it on, was there in the bottom of the eighth. Two men on Bo Naylor. That one is gone for the three run homer. So much insurance there when they headed into the top of the ninth. And that would be the final score, 6 to 1 for the Guardians going up against the Tigers. The Tigers won yesterday 2 to 1. There is the box score. So this now goes to a deciding game three tomorrow to see who moves on to the Alds. Let’s welcome in our MLB expert Jim Bowden here. Jim I’m going to call you baseball Nostradamus. That’s how you say it. Because you called this. You said this is exactly what you thought was going to happen. Maybe the Tigers would get game one, and then the Guardians were going to get game two, potentially game three as well. Your reaction to what we just saw play out? Yeah. The blueprint I think was there Amanda. Going into this series right. The Tigers win the first game because they have Skubal invest that can pitch those games. But in a game where you’re going to battle the bullpens, the Guardians bullpen is deeper. It’s stronger. And we saw that in this game today. Tanner Bybee went four and two thirds innings. Solid start. Gave up one run. That was fine. But when Stephen Vogt went to the bullpen and started bringing in some Broski and Gaddis and Tim Herron and Jacob Junis and then finishing Cade Smith getting the final four outs, that was the difference. Four and a third shutout innings. And look, the Tigers had lots of chances this whole game. They had men on base over 12 men left on base. But this bullpen of the Guardians knows how to execute pitches with men on base in the big moments with two strikes. And that’s what they did again today. And that really stood out when you talked about all the chances that the Tigers had. I mean, yes, look, they did have two outs, but still they had three on there and in the top of the ninth and weren’t able to capitalize on that. What is giving you so much in confidence of the Guardians moving forward? Are you still going with them to go ahead and win this series? Yeah, I am Amanda. And mainly because, look, we watched them. They were 15.5 games out in July. Right. And they were 11 games out on September 4th. And they beat these Tigers and they’ve been dominating them. And that’s what it’s looked like. And they’re at home. And then tomorrow we’ll see I mean Slade Cecconi will take the mound. Remember that’s the pitcher they traded Josh Naylor for. Naylor was a big part of them winning last year. He’ll go against the veteran Jack Flaherty, who quite frankly hasn’t pitched well down the stretch. And so look I like where the Guardians are right now. Brian Rokos homer in the bottom of the eighth to break that one one tie was incredible. In fact, that’s the ninth game in a row postseason game where he’s gotten at least one hit. And that breaks the Cleveland Guardians record for the franchise, which is pretty amazing. But I like the position they’re in right now. I thought Stephen Vogt outmanaged A.J. Hinch, which isn’t easy to do, but he did that today and I think there were a couple questionable moves by A.J. Hinch, including taking Riley Greene out of the game and pinch hitting J.R. Jones for him in that seventh inning. Taking us to the game tomorrow. I mean, you kind of gave us a little bit of preview there, by the way, start time a little bit after 1:00 eastern. Same as it was today, same as it was yesterday. Leaning toward the Guardians. If the Tigers were to win and move forward, what would kind of be the key for them that they need to do in order to get that win? I think it would come down to the Guardians bullpen being tired after pitching two games in a row and carrying most of the innings. I think that’s going to be the big thing. You looked at Cade Smith. He did struggle in the ninth inning, as you pointed out, with the bases loaded there. He didn’t look great yesterday either. What’s he going to look like if he has to come in tomorrow to pitch that third game in a row? And I think if the Tigers are going to win, they’re going to win because they can wear out the Guardians bullpen. I think that’s their pathway. Although as I’ve said before, I thought the Guardians would win this series. I thought they were the better team when Skubal wasn’t pitching. Skubal won’t be pitching tomorrow, so I got the Guardians advancing tomorrow. Yeah, that’s a sigh of relief for them. Jim Bowden, we appreciate it. Thank you so much for hopping on. As soon as the game is done to give us your insight into that one. Guardians go ahead home run in the eighth inning or later. We got it today with Brian Rocchio versus the Detroit Tigers.

Jim Bowden joins CBS Sports HQ to recap Game 2 of the Wild Card series between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians.

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