Tigers' comeback falls short in 5-4 loss to Guardians

CLEVELAND — We’ve seen how effective bullpen games can be. We’ve seen Tigers manager AJ Hinch mix and match a fleet of relievers, showing different looks to different pockets of hitters, neutralizing a lineup through nine innings.

On Wednesday, we saw the dark side of bullpen games. All it takes is for one or two of those relievers to misfire and the best laid plan can get blown up in a hurry.

The Cleveland Guardians detonated the Tigers’ pitch plan with three solo home runs and snapped their season-worst three-game home losing streak with a 5-4 win at Progressive Field.

It was a rock-em, sock-em affair early.

The Tigers scored two runs in the fourth inning off Guardians starter Xzavion Curry. Mark Canha, who had three hits Monday night, banged a double off the wall in left and Wenceel Perez hit the next pitch, a 90-mph four-seam fastball, 390 feet into the right field seats.

Perez has hit four of his seven home runs this month. He’s also hit five of the seven with runners in scoring position. He’s hit safely in 13 of his last 16 games with an OPS over .800.

The Guardians answered that with three solo home runs, two of them against right-hander Alex Faedo. All three led off an inning.

Faedo ended the second inning for opener Tyler Holton. But he fell behind Steven Kwan 3-1 leading off the third. Kwan smoked the 3-1 fastball into the seats in right field. It was the sixth 3-1 count against Faedo this season. Four of them ended in walks, two ended with home runs.

Then leading off the fourth inning, Jhonkensy Noel leaned back and launched a first-pitch heater from Faedo onto the concourse beyond the left field wall. The ball left his bat at 109 mph.

Jose Ramirez made it a trifecta, leading off the fifth and sending a 1-2, 95-mph fastball from lefty Joey Wentz inside the foul pole in left field.

The Guardians pushed two more runs across against Wentz in the sixth, playing small ball. A walk, single, sacrifice bunt by Kwan, sacrifice fly by Angel Martinez and an RBI single by Ramirez off right-hander Will Vest did the trick.

For Vest, he’s allowed 15 of 33 inherited runners to score this season.

The Tigers, down 5-2, stayed in the fight.

Zach McKinstry, getting a start at shortstop, doubled Gio Urshela to third against reliever Hunter Gaddis in the seventh. Jake Rogers nearly tied it with one swing. His long fly ball to the wall in right was caught by Noel. Urshela scored and McKinstry went to third.

Gaddis made an errant pick-off throw to first and McKinstry scooted home to make it a 5-4 game.

There was no drama in the ninth. Guardians' All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase collected his 30th save and the Tigers, for the second time in four games, missed a chance to get back to .500, falling to 50-52.