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Fearless Tigers use a familiar formula to upset the Astros

Posted on by Vanessa
Fearless Tigers use a familiar formula to upset the Astros

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Houston – The up-and-coming Tigers thought they had nothing to lose. Maybe yes. But now the series is changing dramatically. Now they have everything to win.

They fought against the noise, the Astros and the increasing tension until they reached the sweaty finish. The moment might have shocked them, but they've had similar moments all season. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Beau Brieske got going again. He induced a looping lineout to first pitch, and when Spencer Torkelson crushed the ball to secure a 3-1 win Tuesday, the roaring crowd grew so quiet you could hear the ratings dropping.

The Tigers rode their pitching horse Tarik Skubal into the game and played with unwavering precision. The playoff-experienced Astros were ambushed from the start, and suddenly this short series is under the Tigers' control, one win away.

Skubal did what he could and was absolutely dominant for six innings. And the Tigers did what they do by repeatedly denying runs and then turning the game over to their punishing bullpen. They won the Wild Card Series opener at Minute Maid Park, which they had to win with Skubal on the mound, and it might take the Astros a moment to process that.

Timely strike. Tight defense. Aggressive baserunning. Unorthodox pinching. Clutch nod. Here's the most compelling example of the Tigers' relentlessness: Although they only scored in one inning, they put a runner on base in every inning.

“This is who we are,” said manager AJ Hinch. “I don’t want to sugarcoat it because I’m proud of this group because that’s exactly who we are and how we talk. We're talking about pressure on the bases. We're talking about good bats. … I don't think it's a small thing in the first playoff game for a lot of these guys that it looked eerily familiar to them over the last two months.”

More: For the Tigers' Beau Brieske, escaping Game 1 was the sweetest feeling of déjà vu

The rejuvenated Tigers, with their manically maneuvering manager and freewheeling style, are taking a big look at the sport of baseball. They are in the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. The Astros are there for the eighth consecutive year. If there was a feeling in Houston that they had done it before, it was evident in the many empty seats in the stands and the occasional chant of “Let's Go Tigers!” Singing from the Detroit visitors.

The Tigers promised they would be loose and ready, and they did. Again, it's not a dream for them. No pinching, no twitching. The Tigers led 3-0 from the second inning until the Astros woke up in the ninth inning. Brieske had replaced Jason Foley with two players and the score was 3-1, and after walking a batter, he got Jason Heyward to foul several pitches and then hit the ball straight to Torkelson.

“That was great, an incredible feeling to have accomplished that, without a doubt,” Torkelson said with a smile. “My goodness, it was a collective team victory. I couldn’t be happier, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

Holton starts Game 2

The theory was that the favored Astros would feel the pressure against Skubal, the best pitcher in baseball, and maybe they did. And perhaps they will feel it even more clearly in Game 2 here on Wednesday. If the Tigers get the win, they'll face Cleveland and try to make it happen by deploying another load of weapons in an unconventional order. Hinch will open with backup Tyler Holton while Hunter Brown, who played at Wayne State, will start for Houston.

Skubal was the star of the game, but these Tigers are rarely about a single star. Skubal struck out the Astros on five pitches in the first inning and again on five pitches in the fifth inning. He knew the Astros' hitters like to attack early, and he beat them to punch-out. He left after six scoreless innings with six strikeouts, one walk and four hits allowed.

Houston ace Framber Valdez was shaky from the start and when he didn't miss the strike zone, he hit the Tigers' bats. The second inning featured a classic, low-key Tigers rally with sharp RBI singles from Jake Rogers, Trey Sweeney and Matt Vierling for a 3-0 lead. Valdez struggled in his four-plus innings, allowing seven hits and two walks and never seemed comfortable.

From then on, the game was handed over to Skubal and the Tigers' endless release march. It was Will Vest, then Holton, then Foley, then Brieske, who was asked to finish games a few times. He did it on September 21 in Baltimore, escaping a jam in the ninth inning to give the Tigers a huge win. He did it again on Tuesday, eerily familiar, almost as familiar as Skubal's performance.

More: 'What an opportunity': Astros' Brown tasked with salvaging season against hometown Tigers

It was Skubal's first postseason game and on a Tigers roster that features 11 rookies, it was the first playoff game for all but Vierling. Skubal wasn't immune to the magnitude of the moment, admitting he had a natural human emotion. Oh yeah, he was nervous as hell.

“It's probably the most nervous I've experienced since my debut,” Skubal said. “But I think being nervous is good because it means you care about what's going on.”

You could tell he cared, but you really couldn't tell he was nervous. He just had a few shaky moments. One came in the second when he took a hard-hit ball from his right (non-throwing) hand and shook it off. In the fourth, with two Astros on base, Skubal struck out Jeremy Pena and Victor Caratini, then stalked off with an exuberant scream into his glove.

Later, in the sixth inning, he stopped on the mound and began to bend his left leg. Hinch admitted he was “100% panicking” until Skubal said it was just a hamstring cramp.

“He’s all in, he’s so competitive,” Hinch said. “You see him screaming from the mound and we see that every day. I’m glad the baseball world gets to see this on the biggest stage of the year so far because it’s authentic and has a real impact on our club.”

Impressive timing

The Tigers play with a fearlessness that may be a product of their youth, their talent, their manager or their complete belief in a collective group in which every player contributes. Rogers, who was the Astros' third-round pick in 2016 and came to Detroit in the Justin Verlander trade, doesn't have impressive hitting numbers, but he does have impressive timing.

He was 2 for 4 and hit his RBI single on a 3-0 pitch. At 3-0, he almost never strikes, but as we know, these Tigers are dangerously unpredictable.

“I went 3-0 one more time this year and got eliminated, and I told the guys I don't think I'll ever do that again,” Rogers said. “But against Framber, I knew I was probably going to get a heater somewhere above the plate. So I tried to be a little aggressive there and scored.”

The aggressiveness continued on the basepaths as Rogers moved from first to third on Sweeney's single and a catcher unlocked his wheels. In the third, however, Mauricio Dubon of the Astros jumped to second on a two-out hit by Jose Altuve without forcing a throw.

Hinch said before the series that the Tigers' plan was “to throw chaos at Tarik Skubal and then the rest of the game.” The Tigers are no strangers to chaos, they can both survive it and create it. If they can do it again here in Houston, everyone in baseball will know who they are and what they do.

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@bobwojnowski

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Chris McCosky asks AJ Hinch about the Game 1 win in Houston.

Chris McCosky asks AJ Hinch about the Game 1 win in Houston.

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