Tigers blank Guardians to take series lead

DETROIT — The Tigers unleashed their patented postseason “pitching chaos” to claim Game 3 of the ALDS, 3-0. With one more win, a team left for dead in July will implausibly battle for the American League pennant.

In Game 2, Detroit ace Tarik Skubal did the heavy lifting in silencing the Cleveland Guardians’ bats. This time, six pitchers combined to blank the opposition before a crowd of 44,885, a record for a playoff game at Comerica Park. It was the first playoff game at the venue in a decade.

The Tigers scored twice early off Guardians starter Alex Cobb, and left it to their pitchers to hold that lead. The pitching chaos paid immediate dividends. Keider Montero tossed a scoreless first, and then Tigers manager A.J. Hinch turned to left-hander Brant Hurter, which prompted Cleveland to pinch-hit in both the second and third innings. Detroit’s blueprint fared much better than it did in Game 1, when the Guardians erupted for five runs before Tigers pitchers could record an out.

The teams will reconvene at Comerica Park on Thursday, with the Guardians staring down elimination by a division foe that stared up at them in the standings throughout the regular season. Tanner Bibee, Cleveland’s Game 1 starter, will return to the mound. The Tigers will lean on their familiar approach: chaos.

The Tigers’ unusual approach to pitching did not work in Game 1. Game 3, though, served as a reminder of how this unorthodox philosophy got the Tigers here. Montero opened the game and threw only six pitches in a 1-2-3 inning. Fans just now tuning into the Tigers may have wondered why in the world Hinch would pull him after one breezy frame. But after seeing Hurter mow down a Guardians’ lineup filled with lefties, it all made sense once again. Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt had to turn to his bench early. The Tigers still put their unheralded pitchers in positions to succeed throughout the game. The biggest turning point came in the fifth when Beau Brieske entered in relief of the left-handed Hurter to face righty David Fry and switch-hitter José Ramirez. Will Vest notched a crucial out in the seventh when a Fry liner with two runners on left the bat at 102 mph and smashed straight into the glove of a leaping Matt Vierling at third.

The sixth and final pitcher, Tyler Holton, finished off the Guardians in the ninth inning, sending Comerica Park into delirium. This approach can be maddening. It can be difficult for the unaccustomed to follow. It keeps working over and over again.

Entering his sixth-inning at-bat, Spencer Torkelson was 0-for-14 with nine strikeouts in this postseason. The oft-criticized No. 1 overall pick was slumping for an offense that tends to need all the production it can get. Leave it to Torkelson and the 2024 Tigers to flip the script right when you least expect it. After two ugly strikeouts, Torkelson ripped a high fastball down the left-field line to drive in Colt Keith and give the Tigers’ a key insurance run.

There’s a lot to dissect in terms of managerial decision-making and deployment of hitters against Detroit’s revolving door on the mound. The primary takeaway, however, is this:

They last touched home plate all the way back in the sixth inning of Game 1, when a gallon of milk cost a nickel.