DETROIT – Progressive Field in Cleveland has been a house of horrors for the Detroit Tigers.
First it was last season’s ALDS, when a Lane Thomas grand slam off Tarik Skubal ended Detroit’s magical run to the second-round of the postseason.
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Then it was then end of this regular season, when Cleveland officially erased what was once a 15.5-game division lead for the Tigers in the AL Central.
It all culminated in a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday, with the Tigers facing the possibility of even more heartbreak in that same stadium.
But instead, they vanquished those demons. A 6-3 victory ended in a mosh pit on the infield and a champaign celebration in the clubhouse.
The Tigers got a strong start from Jack Flaherty, who allowed just one run in 4.2 innings. Kyle Finnegan and Tyler Holton were excellent out of the bullpen for the second game in a row.
Pitching was never the problem, though. The Tigers’ nightmare September (7-17 record) fell squarely on the shoulders of a dormant offense.
The Tigers managed only two unearned runs in Game 1 of the series, and were held to a single run in Game 2.
Those struggles continued in the first half of Thursday’s game, as the Tigers scored just once through the first five innings.
But Dillon Dingler came through with the biggest hit of the season, blasting a 401-foot homer over the fence in left-center to break a 1-1 tie.
Once Dingler broke the seal, the rest of the Tigers followed suit. Javier Baez led off the sixth with a double, moved to third on an infield single by Parker Meadows who beat out a sacrifice bunt.
Wenceel Perez delivered a big two-run hit to make it 4-1, and Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene followed with run-scoring hits of their own.
With a 6-1 lead, the Tigers just needed to get nine more outs. But in Cleveland, it’s never easy.
Tommy Kahnle allowed two of three batters to reach in the eighth, and a bizarre error by Will Vest on a grounder by Jose Ramirez allowed both of them to score with two outs.
Vest had no problem mopping it up in the ninth, though, retiring the Guardians 1-2-3 to spark the mosh pit on the infield.
For good measure, this win gave the Tigers a 1,168-1,167 lead in the all-time series vs. Cleveland, including playoff games (shoutout to the ESPN broadcast for the stat).
Now the Tigers advance to play the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS. Game 1 is set for Saturday, and the Tigers will have to get creative with their pitching plans. Skubal will likely start Game 2, followed by Casey Mize and Flaherty.