After taking a 2-1 lead in this ALDS matchup against the Cleveland Guardians, the Detroit Tigers had everything lined up to extend their improbable run into the ALCS.
They had their sturdy bullpen set for Game 4, and if it faltered, the nearly unhittable Tarik Skubal was ready to slam the door in Game 5.
However, as baseball often proves, even the most stable plans can fall apart at the most inopportune times. That’s exactly what happened in Game 5 Saturday, as the Guardians completed their comeback by scoring five runs off Skubal on the way to a 7-3 win.
Lane Thomas provided the signature moment, with a go-ahead grand slam, but Cleveland needed contributions from up and down its roster to knock off the “Gritty Tigs.”
Here are some takeaways from the finish of a fascinating intra-divisional five-game set.
THOMAS PROVIDES THE HEROICS
Faced with a deficit against the AL Cy Young favourite, the Guardians needed their offence to deliver in the most unlikely of scenarios — and that’s exactly what they did.
Once Cleveland loaded the bases with three singles and pushed a run across with a hit-by-pitch, Game 1 hero Thomas came to the plate.
Thomas loves to swing at the first pitch, and Skubal gave him the perfect pitch to attack, a 96.9 m.p.h. sinker right down the middle. The 29-year-old trade-deadline acquisition didn’t miss, depositing the ball 396 feet into the left-field bleachers.
Acquired for two minor leaguers and a depth infielder, Thomas made the deal well worth it with his performance in this series. He picked up six hits across the five games and launched two multi-run homers, helping him drive in nine runs. With heart-of-the-order bats José Ramírez and Josh Naylor being held relatively quiet by the Tigers, Thomas proved to be a difference-maker for Cleveland’s offence.
SKUBAL’S ROUGH INNING
Skubal has been far and away the American League’s best pitcher this season. The American League pitching Triple Crown winner had been the face of Detorit’s epic sprint to the post-season and at the forefront of their success in October.
After throwing four shutout innings to begin Saturday’s game, Skubal had thrown 17 straight scoreless frames in these playoffs.
All that changed in that fifth inning, when Cleveland finally broke through against the Tigers’ ace.
Thomas’s slam was the first Skubal has given up in his career, and was the first real mistake the six-foot-three southpaw made in the inning. Of the four hits he allowed in the fateful frame, only the home run was in the middle of the zone.
The Guardians were able to set the table for Thomas with some excellent pieces of hitting by Andrés Giménez and Steven Kwan and a cue-ball single by David Fry.
When the margins are slimmest in October, one pitch can make all the difference, and Cleveland took advantage in its best chance to score against Skubal.
LIVE BY THE ‘PEN, DIE BY THE ‘PEN
The Guardians’ bullpen was MLB’s best in the regular season and has continued to deliver throughout this series. So, in a winner-take-all Game 5, it was perhaps unsurprising that manager Stephen Vogt called Canadian rookie Cade Smith’s number in just the third inning.
Starter Matt Boyd’s effectiveness — pitching to five strikeouts through the first two innings — raised some questions about turning to the bullpen so early, but clearly, Vogt wasn’t going to give Detroit’s offence a second look at the southpaw with Skubal going on the other side.
The problem with asking your bullpen to cover so much ground in a game where a single run could make the difference is that one pitcher being off could prove costly.
And Saturday, Cleveland’s bullpen wasn’t at its best, but with some help from the offence, it did enough to win the game. Rookie Andrew Walters, Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis all allowed runs in consecutive innings but limited the damage by making big pitches when they needed them, none bigger than Gaddis striking out Kerry Carpenter with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth.
It’s clear that the Guardians are going to lean on their relief corps to make their run at a World Series. Vogt may have tipped his hand by making the early move on Saturday that he’s willing to win or lose a series with the group that carried them to an AL Central title and now, to the ALCS.
CANADIAN CONTINGENT
For the first time in MLB history, a team is playing with four Canadians on its post-season roster, and all four made it between the lines in Game 5.
Josh and Bo Naylor, Cade Smith and Erik Sabrowski are all from north of the border and continue to make Canadian history with each step they take in the playoffs.
Smith has, of course, been the standout. The Abbotsford, B.C. native pitched in all five games against Detroit, striking out 12 hitters in 6.1 innings of work while allowing just one run.
That set a record for punchouts by a reliever in the Division Series. Smith also induced 28 swings and misses in the series, which is also a new Division Series record for relievers in the Statcast Era (since 2015).
