The Detroit Tigers were nine defensive outs away from heading to the American League Championship Series - but the Cleveland Guardians are tired of their AL Central rival's incredible run.
The Guardians forced a Game 5 in the ALDS on Thursday night after winning the fourth game of the series, 5-4.
Cleveland got on the board early, driving in a run in the first inning, but a sac fly by Detroit in the next inning tied it up. Jose Ramirez gave the Guardians the lead in the fifth with a homer, but Zach McKinstry answered right back with a solo shot of his own in the bottom half of that inning.
Then, in the sixth, Wenceel Perez knocked in a run with a two-out single to put Detroit up, 3-2, and putting the crowd in a frenzy.
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Cleveland returned with a big blow, as pinch-hitter David Fry blasted a two-out, two-run homer, on a 2-2 count, to put the Guardians up, 4-3, and silencing that same rowdy ballpark. That put Cleveland in their gold zone, as in the regular season, they went 71-2 when leading after six innings thanks to their elite back end of the bullpen.
BAfter the Tigers put runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, manager Stephen Vogt went to closer Emmanuel Clase earlier than he would have liked. After a groundout moved both runners over, he struck out Trey Sweeney to get out of the jam.
With runners on the corners and one out in the top of the ninth, the Guardians wanted some insurance, and they got it with a suicide squeeze from Fry himself, scoring Steven Kwan to give Clase a comfortable two-run lead.
Clase, however, allowed a leadoff double, putting the tying run at the plate. The leadoff man eventually scored, showing how important the insurance was. Thankfully for Cleveland, there was no more damage, and Clase eventually got the five outs he needed before relinquishing the lead.
The Guardians had lost their previous 11 games when facing elimination - their last victory in such a situation was Game 6 of the 1997 World Series … which they lost the next night to the Florida Marlins in walk-off fashion.
Kwan recorded three hits to bump his average this series to .500.
Surely, Detroit was hoping to save AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal for Game 1 of the ALCS, but he likely will now take the bump for the Tigers in Cleveland. The Guardians' starter is also TBD, but it sure looks like it'll be Matthew Boyd on regular rest.
That game will be played on Saturday, with a time to be determined, based on what happens in Thursday's Yankees-Royals game.
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