DETROIT – Pinch hitter David Fry hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning and then drove in an insurance run in the ninth to help the Cleveland Guardians force a decisive Game 5 against the Detroit Tigers in their American League Division Series with a 5-4 victory on Thursday evening.

“David Fry is one of the best baseball players in this league,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

Cleveland ended a streak of eleven losses in postseason elimination games dating to Game 6 of the 1997 World Series after Emmanuel Clase retired the side for his third multi-inning save of the year.

“It’s win or go home,” Vogt said. “You want your best pitchers to be there as long as possible.”

AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal will start Game 5 for the Tigers on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.

“It’s always comforting to have Tarik Skubal on the mound,” Detroit manager AJ Hinch said.

The winner will advance to the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees or Kansas City Royals starting Monday.

“We’re one win away,” Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson said. “That’s the mentality. We don’t want it to be easy. We knew it wouldn’t be easy.”

Fry said the Guardians’ resilience was no surprise.

“We showed who these guys are all year long,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of tough guys. We’re down 2-1 and we’re sitting in the locker room like it’s just another day. We’re coming ready to play to try to win. And let’s go win Game 5 .”

On the cusp of reaching the ALCS for the first time since 2013, the Tigers overcame a 2-1 deficit when Zach McKinstry homered in the fifth and Wenceel Pérez hit a runscoring single in the sixth.

Steven Kwan singled off Sean Guenther with two outs in the seventh.

Beau Brieske had thrown scoreless ball for 5⅓ innings in four postseason appearances before Fry, batting for Kyle Manzardo, drove a fastball off a billboard between the two left bullpens for the second pinch-homer in postseason history. Cleveland after Hank Majeski in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series.

That calmed the 44,923 fans who set a playoff attendance record for the second day in a row at 25-year-old Comerica Park.

“What a great baseball game,” Vogt said.

Clase maintained a 4-3 lead in the eighth when he escaped a second and third jam by striking out Trey Sweeney on a 100.9 mph cutter when the batter’s helmet came off.

Brayan Rocchio and Kwan hit one-out singles in the ninth and Fry bunted back to reliever Will Vest. Rocchio slid his head home and beat Vest’s backhand flip, pushing the lead to 5-3.

That turned out to be important.

Pinch hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy doubled to lead off the bottom of the ninth, advanced on Parker Meadows’ groundout and scored on Jace Jung’s groundout.

Clase, who gave up Kerry Carpenter’s three-run homer in the ninth inning of the 3-0 loss in Game 2, struck out Matt Vierling, who couldn’t control his swing on a low and outside cutter.

“I was very excited to take the mound, especially to get the trust back from the manager to put me in that role and that responsibility,” Clase said through an interpreter.

Lane Thomas ended the Guardians’ 20-inning scoreless streak with a two-out RBI single in the first inning off Reese Olson, who did not allow a run in the first inning of 22 regular-season starts

Sweeney hit a sacrifice fly in the second and Jose Ramirez put Cleveland ahead with a home run in the fifth inning off Tyler Holton, ending an 0-for-10 skid.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Carpenter injured his left hamstring while scoring in the sixth and pinch hit in the seventh.

“It’s concerning, but I’m going to put all thoughts on hold until the doctors give me an update and he gets imaging and all the things we need to do before Saturday,” Hinch said.

NEXT

Left-hander Matthew Boyd may start Game 5 for the Guardians, whose last Game 5 was a loss to the Yankees in the 2022 ALCS. Vogt said the team will make that decision on Friday.