Tigers struck down by guards must show that they can disappear from the screen

Cleveland – The stress point, as AJ Hinch likes to call it, came early Saturday.

His Tigers didn't handle it well.

How they handle it from here, however, will say a lot about this group and how long their exciting late-season streak will last after a humiliating 7-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

Or to use Hinch's own analogy before Saturday's game: Now we'll find out if his team can take a playoff hit.

“Someone is going to hit you in the mouth at some point,” the Tigers manager said. “And you have to react.”

Of course, the knee-jerk reactions after such a defeat are easy to recognize. The reasons for optimism are much smaller as the sugar rush that followed the Tigers' wild-card win in Houston against the AL Central champions earlier in the week collapsed.

But if you're wondering why Hinch didn't just give Reese Olson the ball at the start of Saturday's game instead of using Tyler Holton, who couldn't record an out, then you're missing the point. The “pitching chaos” — a strategic use of openers and mass relievers that Hinch resorted to out of necessity this summer — is the main reason the Tigers are here in the first place, the catalyst for an MLB-best record (33-14). since August 10th.

Holton also fared as well as anyone in the chaos, allowing just three runs in 30 1/3 innings over that span, including a 1-2-3 first inning in the wild-card clincher in Houston on Wednesday.

But on a cloudless, 68-degree day in Cleveland, problems arose almost immediately for Holton. Steven Kwan's leadoff double off the wall was the first alarm, but the Guardians continued to call baserunners – double, walk, error, single – and kept the raucous, sellout crowd of 33,548 on its feet.

“Yeah, it was unfortunate,” said Holton, who was out with runners on the corners and his team already in a 2-0 hole. “You know, they made some good swings. But I thought I made some good pitches. That’s baseball.”

Knockout punch

Here's the thing: Olson came in from the bullpen, which had started warming up before Holton even threw a pitch, knowing full well that Holton was supposed to be at the top of the order, finishing with lefty cleanup hitter Josh Naylor.

But after Saturday's shaky start, that meant Olson got the runners in relief for the first time in his young major league career. And wouldn't you know? His first offering to Lane Thomas, the veteran outfielder Cleveland acquired from Washington at the trade deadline, was a hanging slider over center of the plate.

“Threw a really bad slider,” Olson said. “And he was probably looking for it.”

He definitely was. Thomas confirmed this after the game, although his actions at the plate left little doubt: he hurled Olson's first pitch 394 feet into the left field stands, hitting a three-run home run and a 5-0 lead, which felt more like 50-0 at the moment.

“When it doesn’t work, you wonder,” Hinch said of his early pitching decisions. “But we can’t really blame anyone except a good swing on the pitch that won the game for them – and a hit that we didn’t recover from.”

They wouldn't do that on Saturday anyway. And even more alarming than that first-inning ambush was the way the Tigers' offense looked in this series opener. They managed just four hits – all against starter Tanner Bibee – and after missing an opportunity of their own in the first inning, Hinch's lineup appeared to be completely outclassed by the Guardians' bulletproof bullpen.

Frontrunner

Cleveland coach Stephen Vogt didn't need to use his best high-leverage relievers in this game, but he did anyway because the Guardians hadn't played a game in a full week and they needed the work. Hinch assumed he might go that route and even pulled off a few tricky maneuvers toward the end of the game to force the issue “to give some of the guys that are going to be in the lineup a look at those guys.” .” Because no matter how good they are, the more you look at them, the more comfortable you hopefully feel.”

Hope wasn't much of a strategy on Saturday, however, as rookie Cade Smith came out of the box and struck out all four batters he faced. Then came lefty Tim Herrin, who struck out two of the next three Tigers. And when flame-throwing Englishman Emmanuel Clase came in for the ninth and sent Matt Vierling back to the dugout with consecutive 101 mph cutters, it was time to end the fight.

And that is the real danger here. If you fall behind this Cleveland team, you'll be waving the white towel more often. The Guardians are now 72-2 when leading after six innings and 83-0 when leading after eight innings this season. By and large, only eight teams in 30 years have managed to overcome a 2-0 deficit and win an MLB division series.

This isn't quite there yet, but it's up to Tigers ace Tarik Skubal to get his team back on par. He'll take the mound on Monday for Game 2 here in Cleveland, “and every time he hits the ground,” Holton said, “the whole team has a lot of confidence in him to go out there and put us in a position to to win the game.” game. So that's what we're going to do.

“I mean, we've had losses in the past where we didn't look good, and I think we've recovered pretty well,” Holton added. “We are still in the fight. And the best teams are the ones that can take an attack and deliver the next blow. So we’ll see what happens.”

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Tigers struck down by guards must show that they can disappear from the screen

ByVanessa

Knockout punch

Frontrunner

By Vanessa

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