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Guardians steal Tigers' playbook with late heroics to force Game 5

Posted on by Vanessa
Guardians steal Tigers' playbook with late heroics to force Game 5

The long ball came back. So does the long series. It was dreamy for a few hours, but any Detroit fantasies of a quick end to this ALDS died in the seventh inning of Game 4 on Thursday night when the Cleveland Guardians took a cue from the Detroit Tigers' playbook and sent just the right shot against the batter's kick supposedly untouchable helper.

Hey, it's not fair to steal our script! David Fry, who had been on the Cleveland bench, entered the box against Detroit's Beau Briske, who had been a Goliath on the mound and had given up no runs in his last four appearances. He had beaten Fry the last three times he had faced him.

“I didn’t know that,” Fry said later.

It showed. Fry did what the Tigers have been doing lately with the powerful Cleveland bullpen. Took out a slingshot. Aimed at the forehead.

And while the sellout crowd at Comerica Park reveled in a 3-2 lead and cheered in anticipation of a chance to play for the AL pennant, this David launched a two-strike pitch all the way to the left field bullpen.

Dinged.

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“As a kid, you dream about it and think about it all the time,” Fry would say of the two-run home run that upended the score, the script, and who knows, maybe the series? Cleveland, which had already seen slugger José Ramírez fire an earlier ball halfway to Hamtramck, was back in black and had a lead it would not relinquish in a 5-4 win.

And Tiger fans streamed out of the park with two words on their minds:

“Tarik Skubal.”

Dinged.

The Tigers had their chances

So Saturday night in Cleveland it will come down to the Tigers ace, and perhaps it should. For all the magical spells AJ Hinch produced on that October stage, baseball's fate often depends on the greatest pitcher. The Tigers have the best in the game this year. They can't complain about their opportunity.

But they can lament their other chances – the ones they had on Thursday and didn't take. You could sense that once Cleveland took the lead in the first inning, the Tigers were going to need as many runs as possible in this one. But too often they left men in the boat instead of getting them ashore, even when they scored a run.

Would you like proof? Count how all these innings ended:

Second inning: Jake Rogers, with two out, runs a double play.

Fourth inning: Spencer Torkelson hits a double play.

Sixth inning: Trey Sweeney exits with the bases loaded.

Seventh inning: Matt Vierling strikes out with a man on.

Eighth Inning: Sweeney struck out with men on in the second and third innings.

In total they left eight runners behind. This is the ALDS, not a toy roulette wheel. You won't get endless spins. Eight men still on base against Cleveland's outstanding backup players is just too many.

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Especially on a night when Cleveland remembered it was a crime.

“They fought really well,” AJ Hinch said. “Having some big swings.”

Yes, they have. Early. In fact, the Tigers' 20 consecutive shutout innings ended not long after the national anthem.

Game 4, just the second postseason game at Comerica Park in a decade, looked nothing like Game 3 the night before. While Game 3 was a Detroit shutdown, a shutout, a highlight on defense and an advantage on offense, Game 4 began with three singles by the Guardians in the first five at-bats.

When Steven Kwan raced home before all the fans had found their seats, Cleveland had its first run in four days and a renewed confidence.

Yes, the Tigers would tie the score in the second inning with a sacrifice fly and the bases loaded. But in the fifth round, after Tyler Holton replaced Reese Olson, the indomitable Ramírez came to bat.

Ramírez is a six-time All-Star and simply one of the best players in the game. Since a single double in Game 1, he has been silenced by the Tigers' pitchers. But you hold Ramírez the way you hold a grizzly bear: carefully and not for long.

With two outs, the Bear captured Holton's second pitch and sent it to Hamtramck at halfway.

Boom. The Guardians' second home run of the series. And you wondered if that wasn't the kickstart they needed to remember that THEY actually won the AL Central and not Detroit.

“That energized our team,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, “like you wouldn’t believe.”

Of course, the Tigers stayed true to their dramatic form and came back minutes later with a home run of their own. And of course it was Zach McKinstry, who hadn't even played the night before.

And of course, in the next inning, Wenceel Pérez, who had played the previous two games, came off the bench as a pinch-hitter and blasted an RBI single to center field to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

And if only Detroit had written the script, that would have been the end of it.

But there are two teams in this matter. And Cleveland didn't hitchhike here.

These teams are looking more and more similar

When Fry's two-goal shot went over the wall in the seventh, the Comerica crowd was quiet for the first time in two nights. And you got the feeling that the top hat and the rabbit were packed up and the magic show was over for the night.

“I was just trying to get a pitch to hit,” Fry told reporters. “Had a few opportunities to get some runners in yesterday but couldn’t get the work done so I tried to do it for the guys.”

That's the difference between one night and the next. The Tigers' pitching parade was no longer the dominant force it had been. Five of the six Detroit hurlers gave up a run. Maybe they got a little tired. Even in short stints, pressure pitching in playoff baseball can tire you out.

Or perhaps the Guardians have now seen enough of them to get a better idea of ​​their playing field. If you do the same magic trick too many times, people start to figure out where the cards are hidden. Meanwhile, Cleveland brought in Emmanuel Clase in the eighth, and this time he managed to get the job done – the final five outs, including fanning out Vierling to end the game.

So we now have two teams who have both overcome a deficit and come back in this series, all with a 2-2 draw. And to be honest, they look more and more alike.

“We have a lot of tough guys,” Fry said. “We lost 2-1, we’re in the dressing room, it’s just another day. We show up ready to play. … If we win, we go to Game 5.”

Doesn't that sound like a tiger?

Even the managers were almost indistinguishable.

“What a great baseball game,” Vogt said.

“What an incredible game,” Hinch said.

All right, all right. We can agree on that. And here we sit, four games played, one game left for the right to chase the pennant. Thursday might not have ended the way Detroiters would have wanted, but ask yourself: Who would you rather be on Saturday? The Guardians, who just used up their best starter, Tanner Bibee, or the Tigers, who have a fully rested Skubal?

Yes. I thought so.

Dinged.

Hey. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Take a breath and set the clocks for Saturday. No matter what happens, it's going to be a damn good ending.

Contact Mitch Albom: [email protected]. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchhalbom.

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