DETROIT -- The Tigers don’t always play close games against the Guardians. It just feels that way.
“I’m sure there was a game in the last handful of years that wasn’t this way,” manager A.J. Hinch said after Detroit’s 6-4 win Tuesday night at Comerica Park, “but man, I can’t remember it.”
As Tigers closer Kenley Jansen struggled to get his cutter into the strike zone, it felt like fate.
Ball four to José Ramírez brought the potential tying run to the plate in a game the Tigers led by four runs an inning earlier. Ball four to rookie pinch-hitter Angel Genao put the tying run on base.
Jo Adell’s fly ball on Jansen’s next pitch brought groans from a few fans before James Outman camped under it in front of the right-field warning track for a sacrifice fly.
Three pitches later, Travis Bazzana had a 3-0 count with the tying run at second, and the collective unease from the crowd of 30,709 hung heavier than the humidity.
“Last time nervous [was] probably my opening day [in the Majors] at Dodger Stadium. That's nerve-wracking,” Jansen said. “Once you get to do what you love so much, and I always will love this game, if I have an opportunity to go out there and help my team win, it's fun. There's two things: You're either going to lose it or you're going to win it, and I'm going to fight to win it.”
Jansen executed a cutter on the inside corner that Bazzana pulled foul down the right-field line, his curse in frustration tempered slightly by the groans of the crowd. On the next pitch, as Bazzana hit a groundball to second baseman Zach McKinstry, the sighs of relief felt like a gust of wind on a late summer night when the air didn’t want to move.
It took every pitch, but the Tigers beat Cleveland for the first time since Game 3 of last year’s American League Wild Card Series. They beat Cleveland at Comerica Park for the first time since Tarik Skubal’s two-hit shutout on May 25 last season.
The Guardians had won all six matchups this season, four in Detroit during the Tigers’ miserable May, then two in Cleveland in early June. The Tigers’ only respite had been a rainout in Cleveland that they’ll make up in September.
Hinch dismissed any psychological boost. Still, they needed this for obvious reasons. They needed the reward for a fundamentally sound game against a team that outplayed them early in the season. And with the White Sox blowing a three-run lead to the Reds, the Tigers needed to take advantage, moving within 2 1/2 games in the division race.
“We all had an awful start,” Jansen said. “It's a long season. They're going to remember you as how you finish. So what you do is big for this ballclub. I think we're all stepping up right now, and if we step up, I don't think there's anybody better than us in this division, respectfully.
“It's a really good team. We just have to be hungry, because Cleveland coming out there, they're hungry. They're playing like they want it bad. And I'm sure teams like Minnesota are going to want it bad. We need to want it as bad as they want it. It's going to be close games. It's going to feel like playoff games now.”
Two of Cleveland’s wins over Detroit this year had come behind Tanner 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.
It’s not just beating the Guardians and Bibee, but how the Tigers did it. They played a solid defensive game, including a highlight grab from McKinstry in right field to rob Chase DeLauter of a run-scoring double in the opening inning. They ran the bases aggressively, including a steal attempt of third by Javier Báez on reliever Matt Festa that paid off when Ramírez couldn't catch Patrick Bailey’s throw and it bounced into left field for an error and an insurance run.
And they produced clutch hits. Kevin McGonigle had been 0-for-5 with a walk and two strikeouts against Bibee entering Tuesday, and struck out against him after barely avoiding a fastball to the face in the third inning. But he adjusted to Bibee’s changeup for a go-ahead two-run double down the right-field line that scored fellow rookie and good friend Max Clark and put Detroit up for good in the fifth.
“When you're playing as a team and playing for everyone in this clubhouse, it's really special,” McGonigle said. “I think that's what everyone is seeing right now.”