CLEVELAND — They emptied everything, from the bullpen to the bench, right down to the final arm and the final out. The Detroit Tigers rode chaos and chemistry as far as they could, then ran into a team similar in style, but just a bit better.

The Tigers’ 7-3 loss to the Guardians in Game 5 of the ALDS ended their season, but it didn’t change their story. In baseball, one pitch and one swing can win a game and a series, and the Guardians struck the mighty blow, a grand slam by Lane Thomas in the fifth inning off ace Tarik Skubal. The Tigers kept scrapping, but even for them, it was an obstacle too high.

The Guardians advanced to the ALCS Saturday at Progressive Field, and ultimately showed why they won the division, and showed the Tigers how close they are, and what they need. You can execute all the strategic machinations, and AJ Hinch did brilliantly. And then sometimes, one big bopper essentially ends it.

Thomas’ power bookended the series. He hit a three-run homer in the first inning of Game 1, and his grand slam Saturday made it 5-1. The Tigers kept testing the Guardians’ bullpen and kept it interesting, but they couldn’t hide their run-production flaw forever.

The Tigers left 10 men on base off Cleveland starter Matthew Boyd and seven relievers, which brought the five-game total to 38 stranded runners. They’re the youngest team in baseball, which offers perspective, but not excuses. To take the next step, they’ll need more bats. Even when you have the best pitcher in the biggest game, if you struggle to score, you’re still one swing from defeat.

Skubal made a mistake on the first pitch to Thomas, and he estimated he hadn’t missed that badly on a sinker to a right-handed hitter in 25-30 innings. Before that half-inning, the Tigers led 1-0 and Skubal was Skubal-ing, filling the strike zone and allowing only two hits. But with the bases loaded, he plunked Jose Ramirez on the elbow to force in the tying run, and then made the rare gaffe.

“That’s the game, right?” Skubal said. “One swing, one pitch. And that’s what happens in the postseason. Most games are won by the team that has the big swing, which is usually a homer. That’s just part of the game, that’s why it’s beautiful. You can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.”

Pushed them to the limit

It took everything the Tigers had to get this far. It took everything the Guardians had to hold them off, even using star closer Emmanuel Clase to throw the final two scoreless innings.

Afterward, Tigers players sat slumped at their lockers, speaking in low tones. When you spend two months enjoying a riveting ride nobody expected, it doesn’t lessen the sting when it ends.

“I would say ‘disappointment’ is the wrong word, but I don’t know what the word is,” Riley Greene said. “It sucks we lost. But I’m super proud of this group, we never quit. We gave it all we had, but we fell short.”

Some Tigers hung out in the dugout after the game, taking mental snapshots of the Guardians’ celebration. As miserable as they felt, they insisted this was the start of something, not the end of it, and their roster composition — young rising players, lots of payroll flexibility — enhances the hope.

Can the pitching chaos continue? Probably not. The Tigers will need to restock their rotation at some point. More than anything, they’ll need an infusion of dependable hitting and power. Many of their regulars — Greene, Matt Vierling, Spencer Torkelson, Colt Keith — struggled in the postseason.

And yet here they were, on the cusp of facing the Yankees in the AL Championship Series, as strange and wonderful a story as baseball has seen in a while. That’s probably why there was no crying afterward, no bitterness, just appreciation for two-plus months of sterling baseball, with lots of growth still possible.

“It was incredible,” Hinch said. “What we had to do to galvanize ourselves and put together stretches of good baseball as the notoriety enhanced, as the expectations rose, as the attention grew. We never thought we shouldn't be here, and that is going to fuel us moving forward. We're going to be a problem for people if we can continue that mindset and continue that hunger. I just told the guys, once you play in one October, you never want to miss one the rest of your career, ever.”

Magic for a moment

That lookahead message resonated because, really, what else was there to say about the game itself? With Skubal on the mound and a 1-0 lead, it felt like the Tigers were in control, and magical things were happening again.

Kerry Carpenter had pulled a hamstring in Game 4 and couldn’t play in the field but felt good enough to swing. Sure enough, he pinch-hit in the fifth and drilled the ball up the right-centerfield gap. It was only a single because Carpenter couldn’t run well, but it was enough to score Parker Meadows and provide the lead.

After hours of treatment on his left leg, Carpenter knew he’d give it a shot, and it appeared it might be enough, until it wasn’t. In the somber clubhouse, there also was an air of defiance.

“I think we’re here to stay,” Carpenter said. “We got a bunch of young guys and a bunch of people who want to get better. I think everybody in this organization is really excited, and we put the world on notice that we can do big things.”

Before they beat the Astros in two games and took the Guardians to five, the Tigers had 12 rookies and one player with playoff experience, Vierling. Now they have an entire team with playoff experience.

And yes, that matters. Some young players looked tight at times, at the plate and in the field. And the hitting woes went up and down the lineup, without a slugger to rescue them.

It’s worth noting, Thomas was a key trade deadline acquisition for the Guardians, although he had struggled since coming over from Washington. Cleveland still has Jose Ramirez and David Fry, who both homered in the crucial 5-4 Game 4 victory. The Tigers were 24th in the majors in home runs during the regular season and hit three in the series, including the Game 2 winner by Carpenter.

Cleveland’s bullpen was the best in baseball but the Tigers’ wasn’t far behind. Both teams had patchwork rotations, and scrounged to score runs.

“If you look at it, they only had opportunities in three or four innings,” Hinch said. “We had it in seven or eight. But they got the biggest swing in the biggest moment with the most at stake and separated themselves, and they were able to hang on with a beast of a bullpen that is tough to deal with.”

When the sting wears off, the Tigers will recall the traits that got them here, and the lessons they learned. They were the winningest team in baseball from mid-August on, to the point where they truly believed they had a chance to win it all.

“I felt like we’re not used to losing anymore,” Keith said. “I just thought somehow we were gonna pull this out. With Skubal on the mound, I thought for sure we were gonna win.”

They weren’t the only ones. Skubal and the young players give the Tigers a foundation, and presumably, the ambition to add more. He blamed himself for the fateful pitch, but nobody was blaming him for anything. He gives the Tigers healthy doses of swagger and fire, and in the immediate aftermath, he was already restocking.

“It sucks, and it should suck,” Skubal said. “This is only gonna make me stride to be a better version of myself. In the offseason, I’ll make sure to remind myself of this feeling. Yeah, it sucks, but our team will be better for it.”

One pitch and one swing sucked the last breath out of an exhilarating season. But it surely won’t suck the life out of Skubal and the Tigers, who took the long, arduous road here, and plan to be back.

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