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    • Guards steal Tigers’ playbook with late heroics to force Game 5
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    Guards steal Tigers’ playbook with late heroics to force Game 5

    Vaseline Posted on

    The long ball came back. This also applied to the long series. It was a dreamy few hours, but any Detroit fantasies about a quick end to this ALDS died Thursday night in the seventh inning of Game 4, when the Cleveland Guardians took a page from the Detroit Tigers playbook and sent just the right pinch hitter against the supposedly untouchable reliever.

    Hey, it’s not fair to steal our script! David Fry, who had been on Cleveland’s bench, stepped into the box against Detroit’s Beau Briske, who had been a Goliath on the mound, with no points surrendered in his last four appearances. The last three times he faced him, he had knocked out Fry.

    “I didn’t know that,” Fry would later say.

    It showed. Fry did what the Tigers had been doing lately with the mighty Cleveland bullpen. I took out a slingshot. Aimed at the forehead.

    And as the sold-out Comerica Park crowd enjoyed a 3-2 lead, and cheered in anticipation of a chance to play for the AL pennant, this David launched a two-strike throw all the way to the bullpen in left field .

    Dented.

    SHAWN WINDSOR: Detroit Tigers missed a chance to break Cleveland’s heart in ALDS. Your move, Tarik Skubal

    “You dream about it as a kid and think about it all the time,” Fry would say of the two-run homer that flipped the score and the script and who knows, maybe the series? Cleveland, who had previously seen slugger José Ramírez launch a ball halfway through Hamtramck, was back in the black, with a lead it would not relinquish in an eventual 5-4 victory.

    And Tiger fans poured out of the park with two words in their heads:

    “Tarik Skubal.”

    Dented.

    Tigers had their chances

    So it will come down to the Tigers’ top game Saturday night in Cleveland, and maybe it should. For all the magic AJ Hinch conjured on this stage in October, baseball fortunes often turn against the greatest pitcher. The Tigers have the best of the game this year. They shouldn’t complain about their chances.

    But they can complain about their other chances – the ones they had and didn’t take on Thursday. You could sense that once Cleveland grabbed a first-inning lead, the Tigers would need as many points as possible in this one. Too often, even when they scored a point, they left men in the boat instead of taking them to shore.

    Do you want proof? Count how all these innings ended:

    Second inning: Jake Rogers grounded into a double play with two men on.

    Fourth inning: Spencer Torkelson grounded into a double play.

    Sixth inning: Trey Sweeney grounded with the bases loaded.

    Seventh inning: Matt Vierling struck out with a man on.

    Eighth inning: Sweeney struck out with men on second and third.

    All together they stranded eight runners. This is the ALDS, not a toy roulette wheel. You don’t get endless spins. Eight guys left on the starting lineup against Cleveland’s great relievers is just too much.

    PAINFUL END: Detroit Tigers DH Kerry Carpenter is scheduled to undergo testing for a left hamstring injury

    Especially on a night when Cleveland remembered it was a foul.

    “They fought really well,” AJ Hinch said. “I’m having some big swings.”

    Yes, they did. Early. In fact, the Tigers’ 20 straight shutout innings came to a halt not long after the national anthem.

    Game 4, only the second postseason game at Comerica Park in a decade, was nothing like Game 3 the night before. While Game 3 was a shutdown in Detroit, a shutout, sparkling defense and an advantage on offense, Game 4 started with three singles from the Guardians in the first five at-bats.

    When Steven Kwan came racing home before all the fans had gotten into their seats, Cleveland had its first run in the last four days and a newfound confidence.

    Yes, the Tigers would tie the score in the second inning on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly. But in the fifth, with Tyler Holton replacing Reese Olson, the invincible Ramírez came to bat.

    Ramírez is a six-time All-Star and simply one of the best players in the game. He’s been silenced by Tigers pitchers since a single double in Game 1. But you hold Ramírez like you hold a grizzly bear: gently, and not for long.

    With two outs, the bear took Holton’s second pitch and sent it halfway to Hamtramck.

    Tree. The Guardians’ second home run of the series. And you wondered if that wasn’t the kickstart they needed to remind themselves that THEY actually won the AL Central, not Detroit.

    “That gave our dugout a boost,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, “like you wouldn’t believe.”

    Of course, true to dramatic form, the Tigers came back a few minutes later with a home run of their own. And of course it was Zach McKinstry, who didn’t even play the night before.

    And of course, Wenceel Pérez, who had played the previous two games, came off the bench as a pinch-hitter the next inning and sliced ​​an RBI single into center field to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

    And if Detroit had written the script on its own, it would have ended there.

    But there are two teams in this thing. And Cleveland didn’t get here by hitchhiking.

    These teams are becoming more and more similar

    So when Fry’s two-strike shot went over the wall in the seventh, the Comerica crowd went silent for the first time in two nights. And you felt like the top hat and bunny were packed away and the magic show was over for the evening.

    “I was just trying to hit a pitch,” Fry told reporters. “Yesterday I had some opportunities to drive in some runners, but I couldn’t get the job done, so I wanted to get it done for the guys.”

    That’s the difference between one night and the next. The Tigers’ parade of pitchers was no longer the dominant force it had been. Five of the six Detroit pitchers gave up a run. Maybe they were getting a little tired. Even in short bursts, pressure throwing in playoff baseball can tire you out.

    Or perhaps the Guardians have now seen enough to get a better corral on their fields. If you show the same magic trick too many times, people start to figure out where the cards are hidden. Meanwhile, Cleveland rolled out their ace closer, Emmanuel Clase, in the eighth, and this time he got the job done: the final five outs, including fanning Vierling to end the game.

    So now we have two teams who have both overcome a deficit and come back into this series, all tied at 2-2. And honestly, they’re looking more and more alike.

    “We’ve got a bunch of tough guys,” Fry said. “We’re 2-1 down, we’re in the dressing room, it’s just another day. We show up ready to play. … Get a win, let’s get to Game 5.”

    Doesn’t that sound like a tiger?

    Even the managers were almost indistinguishable from each other.

    “What a great baseball game,” Vogt said.

    “What an incredible match,” said Hinch.

    Well, fine. We can agree on that. And here we sit, four games played, one more game for right to chase the pennant. Thursday may not have ended the way Detroiters wanted, but ask yourself: Who would you rather be on Saturday? The Guardians, who just used up their top starter, Tanner Bibee, or the Tigers, who have a fully rested Skubal?

    Yes. That’s what I thought.

    Dented.

    Hi. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Take a deep breath and set the watches for Saturday. Whatever happens, it’s going to be a great finish.

    Contact Mitch Albom: [email protected]. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchalbom.

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