Chris McCosky talks to AJ Hinch and Dillon Dingler about Thursday’s series-clinching win in Cleveland.
Chris McCosky talks to AJ Hinch and Dillon Dingler about Thursday’s series-clinching win in Cleveland.
Cleveland – Not. Dead. Yet.
The Detroit Tigers, after squandering a 10-game division lead in September, after squandering one scoring chance after another Wednesday to put their season again on the brink, will play on.
For the second straight season, they advance to the American League Division Series, eliminating the Cleveland Guardians, 6-3, Thursday at Progressive Field.
Did the champagne and beer taste any sweeter for the grind?
“I think just sweet is enough,” manager AJ Hinch said. “I don’t think it needs to be any sweeter than what it feels like right now because you have to earn these wins. You have to earn the opportunity to play in October. You’ve got to earn a full series win over a good team, a hot team, a team that we know well.
“I’m proud of our team. You’ve got to fight, and we did, and we have. … When you earn it, that’s what makes it sweet.”
Catcher Dillon Dingler — the Ohio State and Massillon, Ohio, product — broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth inning, launching a hanging changeup from left-handed reliever Joey Cantillo into the bleachers in left field.
“It was huge,” Dingler said. “I was scratching and crawling a little bit. I was able to get a pitch to hit and do a little damage.”
The 401-foot blast was Dingler’s first his of the series and it seemed to flip not on the score but the energy in the dugout.
“Momentum, I feel like the momentum in the series was the biggest thing,” Dingler said. “The team with the most momentum was the one that was going to carry on. We were able to flip it right there, and we had a huge seventh inning, able to score some runs and be in the driver’s seat a little bit. It was a big one.”
In that seventh inning, all the pent-up frustration the Tigers’ hitters had endured through the first two games of this series was released in a four-run, five-hit barrage.
The rally was started by Javier Báez, who has been the steadiest hitter in the lineup this series. He doubled off the wall and Parker Meadows, moved to the bottom of the batting order, executed a bunt single against lefty reliever Erik Sabrowski.
The Guardians walked Kerry Carpenter intentionally to load the bases and set up a force play at every base with struggling Wenceel Perez coming up.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 6, Guardians 3
Perez foiled them. He snapped an 0-for-11 drought, lashing a two-run single to right and the Tigers’ dugout erupted.
And the hits kept coming. Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene both ripped RBI singles.
“We were right on the cusp of that the entire series,” Hinch said. “In the second game, the story about the guys left on base and so many opportunities, if just one hit would break open, whether it’s confidence or momentum or just being contagious. And Wenceel did that.”
The Tigers were 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position before Perez’s hit, after going 1-for-15 in those situations in Game 2.
“So when Wenceel got the hit — I don’t know why, in baseball, it seems like one good thing happens and then two, three, four, five at-bats in a row were exceptional,” Hinch said.
Dingler and Perez came into the game hitless. Greene, who was pinch-hit for in Game 2, delivered two hits Thursday. Meadows had two hits out of the nine-hole.
And Báez continued to be a continuous spark on both sides of the ball.
“I think Javy is underrated in playing the game,” Hinch said. “I think when we think of Javy, a lot of people think of the big swing. Some of the big connections and some of the big misses. It’s the El Mago mystique. We think a lot of things about Javy. But one thing, Javy does play the game.
“Whether it’s subtle base running things, whether it’s kind of governing the middle of the field, tags, the small things turn into really a big deal with Javy. … Pretty remarkable head on his shoulders when it comes to doing the little things. “
Dingler talked about gaining and keeping momentum. One of Hinch’s talking points coming into the game was forcing early decisions for Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt. Hinch tweaked his batting order to facilitate that, moving Meadows to the bottom of the order and creating alternating right-handed and left-handed hitters.
The first decision point did, in fact, come early. In the third inning. With one out, Meadows singled and went to third on a single by the new leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres.
Vogt opted to remove right-handed starter Slade Cecconi and bring in left-handed reliever Tim Herrin to face lefty Carpenter.
Hinch stayed with Carpenter and got rewarded with an RBI double. Carpenter hit a hard ground ball over the bag at first that first baseman C.J. Kayfus misplayed.
With the three-batter rule, the Tigers had the matchups in their favor with runners still at second and third. But Herrin outpitched the percentages, getting Perez (.865 OPS against lefties) to pop out and striking out Torkelson (.884 OPS against lefties).
Missed opportunity, again.
And as if rubbing salt in that wound, the Guardians tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, delivering on their first opportunity with a runner in scoring position.
“There’s a little extra urgency in the playoffs, and there should be,” Hinch said. “And you have to embrace it. You can’t run from it. You can’t be scared of it. You can’t deny it. You’ve got to overcome it a little bit.
“They’re going to make good defensive plays. They’re going to put the ball in play. Every hit does not mean the game is over. Every run doesn’t mean the game is over.”
Perennial All-Star Jose Ramirez lined a two-strike single to right scoring George Valera, who led off the inning with a double off Tigers’ starter Jack Flaherty.
Flaherty, though, did his part. That was the only blemish in 4.2 innings. He struck out four.
More importantly, going through the Guardians’ lineup twice helped set up the bullpen matchups for Hinch.
Even with three left-handed hitters coming up, Hinch went to right-hander Kyle Finnegan first. And Finnegan, acquired at the trade deadline from the Nationals, recorded four straight outs, setting down Game 2 hero Brayan Rocchio, Steven Kwan, Valera and the always-dangerous Ramirez to get the game to the seventh inning.
“Because every out matters,” Hinch said when asked why he went to Finnegan so early. “When you’re bridging the game, every inning matters to give our offense enough time to break through. So thegoal for getting Finnegan in was to keep the game exactly where it was. So going one-plus (innings) was the goal for him.
“Every out matters. Every game. I preach this to these guys all the time. Specifically in the playoffs, things can turn on a dime. And so we weren’t going to allow the game in the middle part of the game cost us.”
Tyler Holton pitched a shutdown scoreless seventh inning and the Tigers started sniffing another series championship and Will Vest recorded the final five outs to get them there.
“It only gets better from here,” Hinch said. “And I’m proud of our group for continuing to learn and grow and mature and fight off some of the negative thoughts that come along the way when people doubt you or you start struggling a little bit. You’ve got to stay in there.”
As with so many things with these Tigers, it goes back to Tarik Skubal. His brilliant, 14-strikeout performance in Game 1 not only helped steal a win, it set up what ended up being the Tigers’ primary edge in Game 3.
He went 7.2 innings and Flaherty went 4.2 innings Thursday, leaving the Tigers with the fresher bullpen at the end of Game 3.
“It’s the second year in a row Tarik Skubal set us up for the second game,” Hinch said. “We won the second game last year. Way easier to win the series when you win the second game. When the third game comes around, we’re still feeling the effects of how Tarik was able to get us deep into the game. We didn’t have a guy that threw three days in a row. They did.
“I think at some point, it just catches up to you, the intensity of the pitches, the magnitude of the moment, and we capitalized.”
The celebration will be short. The Tigers were boarding their plane and heading to Seattle to begin the ALDS on Saturday.
@cmccosky
AL Division SeriesSeattle vs. Detroit
Game 1: at Mariners, Saturday, Oct. 4, 4:08 p.m. (Fox)
Game 2: at Mariners, Sunday, Oct. 5, 8:03 p.m. (FS1)
Game 3: at Tigers, Tuesday, Oct. 7, time TBA (Fox or FS1)
x-Game 4: at Tigers, Wednesday, Oct. 8, time TBA (Fox or FS1)
x-Game 5: at Mariners, Friday, Oct. 10, time TBA (Fox or FS1)
x-If necessary
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