Detroit – These games between the Tigers and Guardians, going back the last two years, they all manage to be white-knuckled, bullpen-emptying, down-to-the-last out thrillers.
“We’ve played Cleveland like this it feels like 50 times in the last couple of seasons,” manager AJ Hinch said Tuesday night. “I can pretty much guarantee the next two will be that way, too.”
➤Highlights from Tigers’ 7-5 loss to Guardians
➤Tigers’ magic number to clinch remains at 7
First things first: Plans for a clinching party at Comerica Park on Thursday have been cancelled. After the Guardians scored four times in the 10th inning to beat the Tigers, 7-5, the lead in the Central Division is down to 5.5 games and the earliest they can clinch is Saturday.
“It’s fun to battle these guys,” said Kerry Carpenter, who temporarily broke Cleveland’s heart, tying the game with a dramatic, two-out, pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Cade Smith. “Those guys are awesome and they’re really good. It’s a fun little rivalry that we have.
“They never go away and we never go away. It’s a thing we pride ourselves on against anybody but especially in these games. Anything can happen in these games.”
Hinch and Guardians’ manager Stephen Vogt were mixing and matching their bullpen arms. Hinch using lefties Tyler Holton and Bailey Horn to negate the Guardians’ potent and plentiful left-handed bats. Vogt using lefties Erik Sabrowski and Tim Herrin to negate lefty Riley Greene and keep lefties Carpenter, Colt Keith and Zach McKinstry on the bench as long as possible.
“We’re going to play our players when we feel they can have the most impact,” Hinch said. “They took a pretty big risk with the left-handed side of their bullpen managing against Carp and Colt and Z-Man and Trey Sweeney. But once they got in a tough spot, we had the answer.”
It took until the last lefty on Hinch’s bench for that answer to present itself. In a 3-2 game, Herrin struck out all three hitters he faced in the eighth, Greene, right-handed pinch-hitter Jake Rogers and right-handed hitting Dillon Dingler.
That got the game to Smith. He got two quick outs before Carpenter got the barrel on an elevated, 99-mph fastball. The ball left his bat at 107.8 mph and flew 429 feet into the shrubs beyond the centerfield wall.
Guardians’ fans undoubtedly flashed back to Carpenter’s dramatic homer off Emmanuel Clase in the ALDS last October.
“It was such a blessing,” Carpenter said. “It’s evidence that anything can happen when the Lord Jesus is in the box with you. I was just happy to come through for the team and the guys. We trust our bullpen to get three outs. It just didn’t happen tonight and that’s unfortunate. But we fought to the end.”
BOX SCORE: Guardians 7, Tigers 5 (10)
It turned out, Carpenter’s heroics was merely a stay of execution for the Tigers.
The Guardians unleashed a four-run barrage against reliever Will Vest in the 10th. With his velocity down 1.3 mph from his season norm, he yielded four straight extra-base hits: Steven Kwan double, Angel Martinez triple, Jose Ramirez double, Kyle Manzardo double.
Hinch was asked if he thought the velo drop was an issue, or perhaps the Guardians, who were facing Vest for the 11th time since the start of 2024, had something on him.
“I just think they are good,” Hinch said. “Sometimes the other guy is good. They put up good swings. It’s five minutes after the game, I don’t have an answer for that. I love putting Will Vest in the game. I trust him. He’s going to be really good for us. But sometimes the other guys are good, too.”
The Tigers didn’t roll over. Spencer Torkelson capped a four-hit night with a two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th, his 29th homer.
“It was a tough loss,” said starter Casey Mize, who allowed three runs and struck out eight in 5.1 innings. “The season is dwindling down and they all feel that much more important. That being said, we played hard. We did a lot of good things. It just feels like it didn’t go our way.
“If felt at times everything they hit fell and not so much for us. But they played a really good game and didn’t make many mistakes. We made a couple of mistakes and it cost us.”
The Guardians were nearly flawless defensively, throwing out two Tigers on the bases. Ramirez at third base and Gabriel Arias at shortstop both made big plays to stall potential big innings, as did Kwan in left.
Before Carpenter’s homer, the Tigers hit 13 balls with exit velocities over 99 mph, six were outs.
One of the Tigers outs on the bases came at home plate.
Andy Ibáñez was trying to score from first on a double down the left field line by Dingler in the second inning. But the Guardians executed a perfect relay — left fielder Kwan, to Arias to catcher Bo Naylor.
“Kwan showed why gets all the attention,” Hinch said. “As fast as he can get the ball in the corner when he’s playing in the gap on the relay throw. And then Arias has the best arm probably in the league. I’m probably going to piss somebody off saying that, but he does.
“That was a well-executed do-or-die play and it feels bad when you get thrown out.”
Torkelson led off the sixth inning with his second single of the game. With the Tigers down by two runs, he was thrown out by Naylor trying to advance on a ball in the dirt.
“Tork is so good at reading that but the ball just didn’t carom away,” Hinch said. “An extra six inches to a foot and he’s safe. But it didn’t and this is a results game. That was a tough out to give up on the bases.”
The play might’ve been on his mind in the eighth, too. With the Tigers down a run, he ripped a ball into the left field corner leading off the inning but he pulled up at first when Kwan again got to the ball quickly.
“We’re used to playing aggressively and we’re going to continue to play aggressively,” Hinch said. “When it doesn’t go our way in a close game, it makes you have a pit in your stomach.”
Hinch has been asked repeatedly about the team possibly feeling the pressure of the chase.
“I don’t define it as pressure,” he said. “If you see it as pressure, then it’s daunting. We don’t have that. We feel a ton of excitement coming to the ballpark. We had a ton of energy today and we played a well-executed game. Like I’ve said, you have to play the schedule and you have to play its entirety.
“I don’t see it as pressure.”
@cmccosky
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