October baseball. Division rivalry. The winner advances, and the loser goes home. Familiar face starting against arguably the best-starting pitcher on the planet. Game five of the ALDS had it all, with Detroit Tigers ace pitcher leading the charge against Matthew Boyd and the Cleveland Guardians.
It was an innocuous enough start for Tarik Skubal, though Boyd was relieved after tossing two scoreless innings. The Guardians bullpen held the status quo, at least for a few innings.
However, the Tigers struck first in the top of the fifth inning. The attack started with a Trey Sweeney lead-off walk that was followed by a pinch-hit single from a hobbled Kerry Carpenter; Sweeney showed his speed, motoring around the bases for the first run of the game. The hit from Carpenter went off the right field wall, but, after tweaking his leg in Thursday’s game four, Carpenter made himself content with just a single.
With the score still 1-0 entering the bottom of the inning, the Tigers were looking for Skubal to finish off yet another dominant outing. Though, the Guardians’ offense had other plans, with three straight singles loading the bases. Then, with one out, Skubal hit Jose Ramirez to force in a run and tie the score at one. The very next batter, Lane Thomas, got a first-pitch fastball over the plate and didn’t miss it, whacking a grand slam to set the score at 5-1 Guardians.
The Tigers fought back, adding a run in both the sixth and the seventh, courtesy of Spencer Torkelson, Jake Rogers, Colt Keith, and Riley Greene. Missed opportunities, though, haunted the Tigers; Carpenter struck out with the bases loaded to end the sixth, and both the seventh and the eighth ended with runners on second base.
The Guardians tacked on two more, winning by a final of 7-3, ending the Tigers’ magical postseason run. They had opportunities to win, in both game four and game five, but just couldn’t score enough runs.
All in all, the experience was still positive, and gave the young guys the experience of playing in the MLB, on national TV, and in the playoffs. The Tigers have a lot of decisions to make, but the abundance of young talent paints the future bright.
