The Detroit Tigers fall and play the fifth winner-take-all ALDS game in Cleveland

Detroit – They were nine outs away from another celebration Thursday night and another record crowd at Comerica Park (44,923) was ready to celebrate.

The only problem: The American League Central Division champions weren't willing to die.

“You knew they weren't going to just get out,” Tigers first baseman Spencer Tokelson said after the Cleveland Guardians avoided elimination with a 5-4 comeback win over the Tigers in Game 4. “This would have been their last game.” They won't just give up, they will keep going and be happy, they are ahead in the end.

“Losing sucks, whether it’s in Game 50 or in October. We hate to lose.”

This American League Division Series will be decided on Saturday (8:08 p.m.) at Progressive Field. The likely starters: Tarik Skubal for the Tigers; Matthew Boyd for Cleveland. It will be the 18th meeting between these two teams this year.

No more tricks, no more surprises. Just a street fight between two battered and familiar enemies.

“They give us their best and we give them our best and win as best man,” Torkelson said. “No one surprises anyone. Just go out and beat him.”

BOX score: Guardian 5, Tiger 4

Both managers came to the podium with a mixture of exhaustion and exuberance, adrenaline still pumping.

“What an incredible game,” said Tigers’ AJ Hinch. “Lots of great performances from both sides and a hard-fought game. Expect nothing less from these two teams as they play for a chance at promotion. That’s exactly how the games against these guys have been all season.”

“They fought really well, made some big swings, made some big throws. We did the same thing and now it ends in a Game 5. Baseball is unbelievable.”

The head of the Guardians, Stephen Vogt, reiterated this.

“Wow, such a great baseball game,” he said. “I feel like every game in this series was a good baseball game…just a well-played baseball game by both sides that was a lot of fun.”

Vogt was in the media spotlight after the loss in Game 3, when Hinch seemingly trumped his every strategic move. On Thursday, the script flipped and David Fry, who was picked off twice by Tigers reliever Beau Brieske with runners on base on Wednesday, got his redemption.

The Tigers took a 3-2 lead at the end of the sixth period. Cleveland's pesky leadoff hitter Steven Kwan (three hits) kept the seventh alive with a two-out single off lefty Sean Guenther. Hinch called out Brieske, who hadn't allowed a run in 5.1 innings this postseason.

Vogt countered by sending up the right-hander Fry, who pinch-hit for left-hander Kyle Manzardo. It was déjà vu from Game 3, much later in the game.

Brieske took a 1-2 lead, then centered a 97 mph fastball after a wild pitch and Fry fired it into the visiting bullpen. Game changer.

Bats and corpses streamed jubilantly from the guards' dugout. It had been a while since they had something to scream about.

“These are elite players at the highest level, so it’s a competition,” Hinch said. “It’s incredible to see these guys keep fighting. You make a little mistake or a hittable pitch — and we were a few pitches away from them popping out, it barely gets into the stands — and it stays on a fastball and drives it out of the ballpark.

Fry struck again in the ninth. With runners on the corners and one down, Fry executed a perfect safety squeeze bunt to score an insurance run.

Homer and a safety squeeze in consecutive at-bats with an elimination game on the line? Wow, actually.

“Our guys have been working on it all year,” said Vogt. “It's a tool we use to get that extra run or extend the lead. And when I talked to David, I said, 'Hey, do you want to do this?' He said, “Oh yes, I have experienced a lot in my life, I am confident.”

“And Rocchio (Brayan Rocchio, the third-place runner) … you can’t talk about that enough. Perfect jump, perfect slide. Everything went right in this game.”

The Tigers were down twice early in the game and refused to stop the pressure. Riley Greene (two hits and a walk) and Wenceel Perez hit a single against lefty reliever Tim Herrin in the eighth.

Vogt immediately went to his all-world closer Emmanuel Clase. Clase quelled the threat in the eighth, but in case you haven't noticed, the Tigers aren't stopping.

Rookie Justyn-Henry Malloy led off the ninth with a pinch-hit double and scored on a one-out groundout by rookie Jace Jung. While the crowd was on its feet, waving orange towels and hoping for another miracle finish, Clase finished the game, knocking out Matt Vierling.

“We’re still one win away,” Torkelson said. “We don’t want it to be easy. And we knew it wouldn't be easy. We like it that way.”

More: For the second straight year, the Tigers set a postseason attendance record

Subscribers: Wojo: The Tigers can't take out the Guardians and face their biggest test yet

Game 5 could well be more difficult than they would like. Slugger Kerry Carpenter left the game after throwing the go-ahead run in the sixth, limping badly. He was examined after the game for a possible left hamstring injury.

“He finished about third and I think we all saw him limping back to the dugout,” Hinch said. “He got stuck so we need to get him checked out. Any time a player like him has to leave the game it is worrying. But I won’t worry about it until the doctors give me an update and he gets pictures and everything we need to do before Saturday.”

Additionally, catcher Jake Rogers, whose left wrist and forearm were bandaged after the game, was also seen entering the X-ray room. Further information will be announced on Friday.

The Tigers took the lead Tigerball style.

With two ons and two outs in a 2-2 game, Hinch retired Torkelson, who hit a single early in the game, and sent rookie Perez to pinch-hit against right-hander Hunter Gaddis.

Take advantage of every advantage, no matter how insignificant it may seem on paper.

Perez delivered. He dropped a broken-bat single to shallow center field and Carpenter scored. But the Tigers left the bases loaded in that inning, going 1 for 11 overall with runners in scoring position.

“Obviously there were opportunities we could have taken advantage of,” said Parker Meadows, who scored in all six postseason games. “That’s just the game. You win some, you lose some. We will go into Saturday with exactly the same mindset and plan and try to win the game.”

In the fifth round, the teams delivered solo home runs.

It was only a matter of time before Jose Ramirez made his mark on this series. It happened with two outs to start the fifth. Left-back Tyler Holton tried to force a second consecutive substitution through him, but Holton left him lying in the middle of the field.

Ramirez, hitting with a right hand, destroyed it. The ball left his bat at 109.9 mph and traveled 418 feet across the Tigers' bullpen to left. It was his hardest-hit home run of the season, but only his second hit of the series.

“Maybe I should stop talking about him,” said Hinch, who has praised Ramirez throughout. “I hate it when he comes to bat. I love the player on the other side. We’ve held him pretty well so far, but in the fourth game of the series he’s showing exactly what he’s capable of.”

Zach McKinstry responded by hitting an opposite-field solo home run in the bottom of the inning against Guardians starter Tanner Bibee. McKinstry is now 5 of 15 against him, including a double in Game 1.

The fact that Skubal is on the field for Game 5 certainly helps cushion the shock of Thursday's late loss.

“He was made for this moment,” Torkelson said.

But for as many times as this young Tigers team has seemed to be on the brink after the trade deadline, this is the first time they are literally on the brink of elimination.

“We faced adversity all year,” Meadows said. “We will continue to do this day by day. It’s an elimination game, but that won’t change how we look at things.”

Hinch agreed.

“Oh, we’ll be ready,” he said. “These playoffs are incredible. Everything we have been playing for will now take place on Saturday. Our guys will be able to get a fresh start and we'll pack up tonight. We're going to get on a plane tomorrow.” We're going to do a quick workout and get the opportunity to do it on their turf.

“And I expect (the Guardians) to appear ready to play as well. Why shouldn’t these two teams come out with everything they’ve got on Saturday?”

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@cmccosky

The Detroit Tigers fall and play the fifth winner-take-all ALDS game in Cleveland

ByVanessa

By Vanessa

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