No place like home: Tigers dump Guardians, take 2-1 lead in ALDS

DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers, given last rites in early August, are now one win from playing for the American League championship.

Believe it.

In front of the largest postseason crowd ever at Comerica Park (44,885), the Tigers seized control of this best-of-five American League Division Series on Wednesday, blanking the Cleveland Guardians in Game 3, 3-0.

The Tigers, who hadn’t played a home playoff game since 2014 and hadn’t won one since 2013, can clinch the series here Thursday.

Manager AJ Hinch likes to call his pitching plans chaos. But on Wednesday, it almost felt scripted. He weaved his way through the Guardians’ lineup with six different pitchers, brilliantly playing not only the lefty-righty advantages, but also showing the hitters different pitching styles.

Rookie Keider Montero pitched a clean, six-pitch first inning, but Hinch didn’t veer off script. He went right away to lefty Brant Hurter against what began as an eight-lefty batting order.

Hurter went 3 1/3 innings and by the time right-hander Beau Brieske dismissed six straight hitters, striking out three of them, the Tigers were through six innings with a three-run lead. And, to the point of the maneuverings, when Cleveland’s best hitter, Jose Ramirez, came to bat to lead off the seventh, he was facing his fourth different pitcher.

With two on and two out in the fifth inning, Brieske, attacking with 89-mph changeups, got Ramirez to fly out to center.

Ramirez was looming on deck in the seventh inning when right-hander Will Vest got possibly the biggest out of the game.

The Guardians, with a walk and a single against lefty Sean Guenther, had two runners on with one out. With right-handed hitting David Fry coming up, Hinch summoned Vest.

Vest came out hot. He threw six straight fastballs, all 97 and 98 mph, and with each one, Fry was getting more and more on time. On the sixth one, a two-seamer, he hit a screamer, 102 mph off the bat.

The crowd erupted when Vierling leaped and snagged the line drive to end the inning. Vierling and Vest also erupted, both shouting and stomping triumphantly back to the dugout.

Vest pitched a clean eighth, retiring Ramirez, and got the ball to lefty Tyler Holton in the ninth.

Holton opened Game 1 and got nicked for four runs. His redemption was a clean, stress-free save in the ninth.

Tigers pitchers now have tossed 20 straight scoreless innings.

The Tigers scored single runs in the first, third and sixth innings.

Parker Meadows brought the crowd to its feet right away, leading off the bottom of the first with a single off veteran starter Alex Cobb. He advanced to second on a ground out and scored on a two-out single by Riley Greene.

It was Greene’s first RBI of the postseason.

Catcher Jake Rogers led off the third with a double into the left field corner and ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Vierling.

Then in the sixth, two Tigers searching for their first playoff hits delivered. Colt Keith, in an 0 for 11 rut, singled off reliever Eli Morgan and scored on a double by Spencer Torkelson. He was hitless in 14 at-bats and had struck out in his first two on Wednesday.

What a chess match this was. Both managers were wheeling and dealing from the first inning on.

It might have been tempting to stick with Montero, especially with right-handed hitting Lane Thomas coming up, but Hinch stuck to his initial plan and went to Hurter to start the second inning.

Guardians’ manager Stephen Vogt was pulling strings early, too. After Josh Naylor and Thomas singled to start the second inning, he used right-handed hitting Jhonkensy Noel to pinch-hit for lefty Will Brennan.

Hurter responded, getting three straight outs, including Noel on a fly out.

Vogt went to his bench again in the third inning, too. With one out, leadoff hitters Steven Kwan ended up on second base (infield single and throwing error by shortstop Trey Sweeney). He sent up right-handed hitter Fry for lefty Kyle Manzardo.

Hurter struck him out looking.

With first base open and two outs, Hinch waved four fingers and gave Ramirez his second intentional walk of the series.

Hurter made the strategy pay off getting lefty-swinging Josh Naylor to ground out.

All that maneuvering in two and a half innings. Playoff baseball.

Vogt, though, most likely set his starting lineup to accommodate those early pinch-hits. Brennan and Manzardo have been used mostly off the bench for the Guardians. He put them in the lineup hoping they would get a couple of whacks at righty Montero.

When that didn’t happen, it was an easy adjustment to insert his regular right-handed hitters.

There were more matchup shenanigans in the Tigers’ half of the fifth.

Rogers, who’d doubled in the third inning, led off the fifth with a walk against rookie lefty reliever Erik Sabrowski. With one out, Hinch sent up right-handed hitting Justyn-Henry Malloy to bat for lefty-swinging Kerry Carpenter.

Vogt countered with another left-handed reliever, a more experienced one, Tim Herrin.

Herrin walked Malloy but got out of the inning with no damage, retiring Matt Vierling and Riley Greene on fly balls.

The moves left the Tigers without Carpenter’s bat against Cleveland’s three right-handed leverage relievers — Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase. The Tigers' pitchers made that a moot point.

One win away from moving on.

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