DETROIT — Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each drove in a run, and six pitchers combined to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 win over Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday and a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series.
The Tigers, baseball’s hottest team the past two months, will have their first chance to advance in the playoffs since 2013 on Thursday night in Game 4 at Comerica Park.
“We’re human,” Torkelson said. “We know how close we are.”
Cleveland has gone 20 straight innings without scoring since opening the series with a five-run first and a two-run sixth in its 7-0 win. Steven Kwan had three of its six hits in Game 3.
“Short sample size, obviously in the playoffs it’s a lot more magnified,” David Fry said after going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, contributing to the team’s eight runners left on base. “I think guys have hit balls hard. Balls aren’t really falling.”
After AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal helped Detroit shut out Cleveland in Game 2, manager A.J. Hinch put a stream of pitchers on the mound and kept the Guardians quiet at the plate.
Detroit reliever Will Vest entered with two on and two outs in the seventh, and Fry lined to a leaping Matt Vierling at third.
“He likes to pull the ball a lot, so I was ready for anything that came my way,” Vierling said. “I didn’t have time to think. I just had to react.”
Fans were fired up all day, chanting “Let’s go Tigers!” before the first playoff pitch in Detroit since 2014, and 44,885 were in the stands for the largest crowd in Comerica Park’s 25-year history.
“This is a huge victory for us, just to see the stadium and the whole city come out for the first playoff game in a decade,” Vierling said.
Right-hander Keider Montero retired the side in order in the first, and the previously slumping Greene hit a two-out RBI single in the home half.
Brant Hurter gave up five hits in 3⅓ innings. Beau Brieske pitched two innings and Sean Guenther got one out. Vest threw 1⅓ innings before Tyler Holton handled the ninth.
“Nothing that happened caught us off guard,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We were prepared for all of it.”
It’s the first time Detroit has recorded two shutouts in a postseason series. It’s also the first time since the 1905 World Series that the first three games of a postseason series all were shutouts.
The Guardians had a chance to score in the third. Kwan reached on a one-out infield single and advanced on shortstop Tyler Sweeney’s throwing error. José Ramírez was intentionally walked with two outs, but Josh Naylor hit an inning-ending groundout.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the third after No. 9 hitter Jake Rogers led off with a double, advanced to third on Parker Meadows’ grounder and scored on Vierling’s sacrifice fly.
Cleveland’s pitchers did enough to keep the AL Central champions in the game, but the lack of offense made it moot.
The Guardians went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
“I thought we did a great job setting the table,” Vogt said. “We just weren’t able to come up with a big hit.”
The Guardians gave righty Alex Cobb the start for his first appearance since Sept. 1. He gave up two runs and three hits in three innings.
Eli Morgan gave up Torkelson’s RBI double in the sixth. The slugger had been 0 for 14 with nine strikeouts in the postseason.
“In the playoffs you don’t get caught up in the numbers, you’re just trying to win and we’re doing that,” Torkelson said. “It felt pretty good to come through there.”
Cleveland RHP Tanner Bibee is scheduled to start Game 4 while Detroit likely will wait until Thursday to announce who will open on the mound as the first of at least a handful of pitchers it will plan to play.
