DETROIT -- The Tigers hadn’t beaten the Guardians since Game 3 of last year’s American League Wild Card Series. They just took a potentially big step towards a third consecutive postseason berth at Cleveland’s expense.
Kevin McGonigle’s go-ahead two-run double fueled a three-run fifth inning off old nemesis Tanner Bibee and a three-RBI night for McGonigle, lifting the Tigers to a 6-4 win over their AL Central rivals Tuesday night at Comerica Park. It marked Detroit’s first win over Cleveland in its home ballpark since Tarik Skubal’s two-hit shutout on May 25 last season.
The Tigers’ eighth win in 10 games ended a six-game losing streak to the Guardians this season and opened a 1 1/2-game gap between the clubs in the AL Central and Wild Card standings. Two of those Cleveland wins over Detroit this year had come behind Bibee, who had held Detroit to three runs on six hits over 15 innings this season and hadn’t given up more than two runs in a game to Detroit since July 10, 2024, which also marked his last loss to the Tigers.
For a while, Bibee looked like he might escape defeat again, having recovered from Spencer Torkelson’s second-inning RBI double to retire nine consecutive Tigers, while Chase DeLauter’s home run off Detroit starter Drew Anderson evened the score. Back-to-back one-out singles from Max Clark and Javier Báez created an opportunity for McGonigle, who turned on a changeup and pulled a ball down the right-field line before scoring on Gleyber Torres’ ensuing single.
McGonigle came through again in the seventh, this time greeting reliever Matt Festa with an RBI single up the middle.
Anderson, inserted into Detroit’s rotation following the trades of Skubal and Casey Mize, tossed four innings of one-run ball in his second start since the Trade Deadline. Jacob Waguespack tossed two scoreless innings of relief to earn his first MLB victory since Sept. 25, 2019, when he was a rookie starter with the Blue Jays.