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Playoffs! Tigers have made a remarkable run into the MLB postseason

Posted on by Vanessa
Playoffs! Tigers have made a remarkable run into the MLB postseason

Detroit — To steal a line from former Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups, who, by the way, was captain of a championship team in this city: “If it ain’t hard, it ain’t right.”

Everything the Tigers have done over the past seven weeks has been tough. Some would have thought it impossible, certainly unlikely. But as the sellout crowd of 44,435 at Comerica Park will happily attest Friday night, it was so right.

The Tigers, who were declared dead at the trade deadline eight games under .500 on Aug. 10, will play postseason baseball for the first time since 2014.

The festive crowd was on its feet from the seventh inning as the Tigers defeated the Chicago White Sox 4-1 and secured a spot in the American League Wild Card Series.

The win eliminated the Minnesota Twins. The Tigers will open the postseason on Tuesday at either Houston or Baltimore. The victory also relegated the White Sox to a dubious place in baseball history. It was their 121st loss of the season, surpassing the 1962 Mets in baseball ineptitude.

“We feel really good about the way we do it, not just what we do,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “We have put in a lot of work to play as consistently as possible and we bring it every day. The DNA, the personality of this team is something very special.”

The Tigers needed a 31-11 win to get themselves into this position. And it was a parade of heroes.

Parker Meadows with his two home run steals – one in Seattle against Cal Raleigh and the other in Baltimore against Colton Cowser. Meadows again, with two dramatic game-winning hits: the walk-off single that beat the Yankees in the Little League Classic in Williamsport, and of course the two-out, 3-2 grand slam home run that tied San Diego at 4 :3 defeated .

Tarik Skubal was 6-0 during the run, posting a 1.96 ERA with 66 strikeouts and nine walks. The Tigers' entire pitching staff was outstanding, posting the lowest ERA and WHIP in baseball.

Keider Montero threw a Maddux (complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches) against the Rockies. Beau Brieske threw a bases-loaded pitch with no out jam, then picked up an extra-inning win in Baltimore. Brieske and Brant Hurter also struck out 21 straight hitters against the Orioles.

Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter with multi-homer games. Matt Vierling's Kirk Gibson-like sprint and headfirst slide across the plate contributed to Thursday's victory that pushed the Tigers to the precipice of the playoffs.

On Friday it was the same all-hands performance.

Opener Brenan Hanifee (two innings) and Hurter took the Tigers through six innings, allowing only a solo home run from Zach DeLoach (to Hurter) and leaving the back of the bullpen with a 2-1 lead.

The Tigers couldn't do much against White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet, but they knew he had pitch limitations and wouldn't throw much more than 60 pitches.

He was at 62 when he grounded out Trey Sweeney with the bases loaded to end the fourth inning.

The Tigers promptly scored two runs in the fifth. Lefty Jared Shuster led Jake Rogers and Andy Ibanez around a Meadows single. A wild pitch brought home Rogers and a sacrifice fly from Vierling plated another.

Then came the seventh. Against another left-back, Fraser Ellard, Ibanez scored a double, went to third on an error by midfielder Dominic Fletcher and scored on a double by Greene.

Vierling, who intentionally walked ahead of Greene, scored on the White Sox's third wild pitch of the game.

The Tigers were nine outs away and the crowd was ready to celebrate.

BOX SCORE: Tigers 4, White Sox 1

MLB STAND

Will Vest got five quick outs and struck out Bryan Ramos and Korey Lee with high-octane heaters to end the eighth.

Hinch entrusted the next three outs to Tyler Holton, who was the epitome of the Tigers' unselfish pitching staff. Since the beginning of July he has made 35 appearances. He opened eight games and closed ten games. He worked every inning from one to nine and beyond.

After getting three outs and coming away to a standing ovation, his ledger showed just four earned runs in his final 52 innings.

The final out belonged to Jason Foley, who got the party started and got Andrew Vaughn to fly out.

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@cmccosky

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