CLEVELAND -- The Tigers were clinging to a one-run lead when the Guardians intentionally walked Kerry Carpenter to pitch to Wenceel Pérez. In a three-game series that felt like an endless set of individual matchups, this is the one Cleveland was ready to stake its season on.
Pérez, who entered Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series in a 5-for-56 slump and hitless in this postseason, was moved up to third in the Tigers’ order, if only so manager A.J. Hinch could keep his Guardians counterpart, Stephen Vogt, from finding a deep pocket for his even mix of left- and right-handed relievers. Vogt took his chances with right-hander Hunter Gaddis, who had retired the switch-hitting Pérez twice a couple of weeks ago at Comerica Park.
When Pérez swung and missed at a first-pitch changeup, he seemed set for more of the same. But as he pounced on a rare mistake -- an elevated slider -- and lashed it into right field, he took a ton of frustration out on a simple two-run single.
“Oh my God, my heart was pumping so hard,” Pérez said after the Tigers’ 6-3 win on Thursday afternoon at Progressive Field. “I was so happy. There was no better time to get my first hit in this postseason. Man, it was great.”
With that, the spell the Guardians seemingly had on their division rivals suddenly lifted. Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene followed with two more RBI singles, and a rivalry that seemed destined to close with another one-run battle to the end turned into a runaway.
“In the second game, [there was] the story about the guys left on base and so many opportunities if just one hit would break it open, whether it's confidence or momentum or just being contagious,” Hinch said. “And Wenceel did that.”
“That's all we needed: to throw a big punch,” said Kyle Finnegan, who retired all four batters he faced to earn the victory.
After two and a half weeks of torment, a historic collapse in the AL Central race and then the brink of elimination, the Tigers found their way past the Guardians at the perfect time. With Dillon Dingler’s go-ahead homer in the sixth inning and the ensuing four-run seventh, the team made it out of its house of horrors and on to a Division Series matchup with the Mariners beginning Saturday in Seattle.
“It feels good,” Finnegan said. “It felt like destiny.”
The Tigers partied hard last Saturday in Boston, where they clinched a postseason berth on the penultimate day of the regular season and ensured their late-season skid wouldn’t cost them a chance in October. But that was nothing like Thursday’s celebration in a visiting clubhouse that had come to feel like a second home.
Nobody relished it more than Pérez, who performed karaoke in the middle of the room, a microphone in one hand and his phone in the other as he danced in a pool of champagne and beer.
“It's so special,” said Pérez, whose first RBI in a week punctuated his first multi-RBI game in a month. “We've been playing them a lot. They've been playing good against us. We played good against them, too. … They're amazing. They executed pitches and hit their spots all the time.
“But this feels so good to win in their home and send them home and then try to keep going and win everything.”
The Tigers became the first MLB team to lose their final five series in the regular season and then win their first postseason round, per STATS. Two of those series losses came to the Guardians, who won five of six games to flip a division series that seemed in Detroit’s control all summer.
Pérez wasn’t the only one who had been on the other side of Cleveland’s magic. Will Vest gave up four runs (three earned) in an extra-inning loss on Sept. 16 at Comerica Park. He got a save at Progressive Field last Thursday and another in Game 1 on Tuesday, but halting another Guardians rally by throwing out José Ramírez at second following his two-run error in the bottom of the eighth provided a special feeling on his way to the final five outs.
“They were the ones that knocked us out last year, and we got to knock them out this year,” Vest said. “Now we're moving on.”
As Torkelson fielded Daniel Schneemann’s ground ball in the ninth and raced to the bag for the final out, the Tigers jumped out of the dugout and onto the field with equal speed. They were nearly in fair territory as Torkelson stepped on the base and put the Guardians away once and for all.
Nothing personal.
“It's a lot of mutual respect,” Carpenter said. “I've been playing against Bo Naylor forever. And all these guys, it feels like I've said, ‘Hey,’ to them 50 times the last couple years.”
The victory sent the Tigers on their way to a Division Series matchup with a Mariners club that was about as hot as the Guardians down the stretch. But after nine grueling games with Cleveland over the past 17 days, they’re ready to see anyone else.
“Get out of Cleveland,” Pérez said.