CLEVELAND -- A leadoff hitter barely beating a throw for an infield single. A line-drive single after a fouled-off bunt attempt as the starter begins his third trip through the order. A slow roller down the third-base line off a 92 mph slider.
It’s the kind of bases-loaded jam that usually seems destined to doom the Tigers’ bullpen at Progressive Field, like watching John Wick get to the bad guy in an incredible fashion.
“José Ramírez comes up and the entire stadium is awake,” manager A.J. Hinch said.
“Just trying to keep him in the ballpark,” catcher Eric Haase said.
Not only did Detroit escape it in the sixth inning of a 2-1 win over the Indians on Saturday night behind Michael Fulmer, a pitcher who has been snakebit for most of his career in Cleveland, the Tigers escaped another bases-loaded threat with José Cisnero in the seventh -- this one including an infield single by former Detroit catcher Wilson Ramos -- then stranded two more runners behind Cisnero in the eighth.
And as the Tigers walked out of their former house of horrors with a series-evening win, having protected a lead built on a Zack Short sacrifice fly and an Akil Baddoo RBI single, they had to wonder if this is a sign of their fortunes changing in this division well beyond this weekend.
According to baseball-reference, the last time the Tigers won in Cleveland while scoring two runs or fewer was May 8, 2009, when Curtis Granderson reached over the fence at Progressive Field to take a home run away from Grady Sizemore and preserve a shutout for Justin Verlander.
On a night when Miguel Cabrera went 0-for-3 with a walk, leaving his home run (498) and hit (2,946) totals unchanged, Detroit used 5 1/3 scoreless innings from converted reliever Tyler Alexander and a high-wire act from the bullpen to change its usual script here.
“I’m just glad for all of our pitchers today for bouncing back,” Haase said. “They had a ton of hits that were not hard-hit balls, a lot of ground balls that never got to guys in the infield. It felt like we were winning that game by a larger margin than the actual traffic on the basepaths. So for them to step back, take a breath and really bear down and make pitches was huge.”
Alexander held Cleveland to two singles over his first five innings, the first time he has gone that long in an outing since the end of the 2019 season. He earned an unlikely trip out for the sixth from Hinch, and an even more surprising third matchup against Myles Straw after Ernie Clement’s infield single reset the lineup with one out.
Straw’s line-drive single to right chased Alexander, and Amed Rosario’s slow grounder to third greeted Fulmer, who entered 2-4 with a 7.88 ERA for his career in this ballpark. With the bases loaded, the tying run on second and All-Star slugger Ramírez up, Fulmer amped up his arsenal until his 3-2 slider came in at 94 mph. Ramírez connected, but flied out to left, too shallow to score Clement from third.
“If I had his stuff, I’d feel calm, too,” Hinch said of Fulmer. “I think even you would.”
Fulmer went back to the 94 mph slider to get a swing-and-miss from Tigers nemesis Franmil Reyes, setting up a 95 mph sinker to induce an inning-ending grounder to second. Fulmer got a hug from Alexander as he stepped into the dugout.
Two ground-ball singles and a two-out walk off Kyle Funkhouser brought the top of the order back up in the seventh and brought in Cisnero. He induced a ground ball from Straw that sent first baseman Jonathan Schoop racing to the bag so quickly that his momentum carried him all the way to the dugout railing. Cisnero stayed in to thwart an eighth-inning threat with a popout from Reyes and Harold Ramirez before striking out Oscar Mercado.
Ramos, released by the Tigers in June after serving as their primary catcher at the start of the season, finally put Cleveland on the board with a home run to lead off the ninth. That’s all Cleveland managed off All-Star closer Gregory Soto.