DETROIT – The Tigers had the stage set for the comeback to turn their fortunes around. And they had the Guardians’ new nemesis up to the plate to do it.
Dillon Dingler, nine months removed from his go-ahead home run in Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series against his childhood team, stepped to the plate Tuesday with the tying and go-ahead runs on base against Guardians closer Cade Smith. The crowd at Comerica Park was loud, helped by the newest additions to the “tarps off” craze in the right-field upper deck. The crowd wasn’t a sellout, but the atmosphere felt like a big game.
Smith spotted two fastballs on the outside corner to put Dingler in a hole, then Dingler battled to keep the game alive, fouling off a 98 mile-per-hour fastball up in the zone and then a splitter below it. But Dingler had no chance at the 98 mph high heater that he chased for the final out.
The 4-3 loss was a crushing result in a game that seemingly brought the struggling Tigers back to life. But it was a game that turned well before the ninth.
The Tigers left 10 runners on base, including Matt Vierling and Kevin McGonigle in the ninth following their back-to-back one-out singles. Smith struck out Jahmai Jones and then Dingler to strand them there. Detroit also left the bases loaded in the eighth, when Hunter Gaddis induced Zach McKinstry to ground out to first.
“Sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth [innings], I think we had seven or eight guys left on base,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “so we had action late in the game. There’s an execution, a game within the game.”
The Tigers went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position for the game. The Guardians went 0-for-2. Detroit and Cleveland combined to score seven runs in a game that featured no hits with runners in scoring position despite just two home runs, a two-run homer for either side.
Take away the homers, and the game turned on how either team wins on the margins. The Guardians won by bringing two leadoff baserunners around without a base hit. Kyle Manzardo singled in the second, advanced on a Travis Bazzana walk, moved to third on an Angel Martínez sacrifice bunt, then scored when Steven Kwan lifted Montero’s next pitch into center for a sacrifice fly.
Kwan was on the other end of the deciding run in the seventh, doubling off the right-field wall to lead off the inning before Austin Hedges bunted him over to third. Zack Short made a diving stop on Brayan Rocchio’s one-out grounder to shortstop, but could only throw to first as Kwan dashed home.
“They did a really good job,” Hinch said. “Even when they concede those bunts, it’s the at-bat afterwards that’s the pivotal one. They made the most of their opportunities, and we didn’t, in terms of execution.”
The Guardians left just three runners on base, turning out four runs on just four hits. The Tigers nearly doubled their hit total but couldn’t move runners along. Aside from Spencer Torkelson’s two-run homer in the second inning, their other tally came when Hedges nearly picked off Hao-Yu Lee at first base and threw the ball into right field, leading third-base coach Joey Cora to wave Riley Greene around from second.
“I was not surprised,” said Greene, who has long since adapted to the Tigers’ opportunistic baserunning under Cora. “I was just trying to get to third and saw [Cora] waving, so I went.”
Hinch all but emptied his bench trying to get that needed hit late. He pinch-hit for Torkelson with Colt Keith when Guardians manager Stephen Vogt replaced lefty Tim Herrin with right-hander Gaddis, then hit for Lee with McKinstry with the bases loaded.
“Tork, I know he hit a homer today, which is awesome to see on a ball in,” Hinch said. “He’s just really had a hard time with the ball away. And that’s exactly what Gaddis is going to do.”
Once Smith entered for the ninth, Hinch pinch-hit for Short with Gage Workman, who struck out to lead off the ninth before Vierling and McGonigle gave the Tigers one more chance.
“Take your shots when you can,” Hinch said. “You’ve watched us for the last few years, but specifically the last few weeks. I’m not going to give away anything, any matchup I can get to try to win on the margins.
“They won the margins today.”