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Kerry Carpenter’s blast lifts Detroit Tigers to tie ALDS vs. Guardians

Vaseline October 8, 2024

Cleveland — The magic continues.

Kerry Carpenter, with two on and two out in the top of the ninth inning, hit a 2-2 slider deep into the right-field seats off All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase, breaking a scoreless tie and making the best-of -five was sent. American League Division Series returned to Detroit tied 1-1 with a 3-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians, stunning a sellout crowd at Progressive Field on Monday.

BOX SCORE: Tigers 3, Guardians 0

Clase, who narrowly escaped the eighth, got the first two outs in the ninth before Jake Rogers and Trey Sweeney, the Nos. 8-9 hitters in the lineup, singled.

Carpenter, who did not start the match against left-hander Matthew Boyd, tied the game at 2-2. He saw three straight sliders from Clase. The third was left in the middle of the plate and Carpenter demolished it. The ball left his bat at a speed of 110 miles per hour and flew 400 feet.

Those were the Tigers’ first runs in this series.

Righthander Beau Brieske closed the bottom of the ninth inning for the save.

Tarik Skubal was once again an absolute beast on the mound for the Tigers. He pitched seven scoreless innings and allowed three hits with eight strikeouts. He hasn’t allowed a run in 27 straight innings.

He was perfect for 4.1 innings, plating the first 13 Guardians batters, striking out eight.

He ran into some trouble in the fifth. Josh Naylor hit a 90-mph four-seater into the right-center gap for a double. Skubal then hit Jhonkensy Noel with a pitch that was almost a strike. Noel’s arm stretched across the plate.

The sold-out crowd at Progressive Field stood up and whooped and cheered for Skubal. He was unfazed. He got Andres Gimenez into an inning-ending, 4-6-3 double play on the very next pitch.

Skubal stomped and screamed his way back to the dugout.

He ran into trouble again in the sixth. No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio bounced a ball over the bag at third base for a double with one out, and Steven Kwan followed with a jam-shot single to left.

But once again, Skubal was undeterred. He turned in another double play, on a softly hit grounder by David Fry. Shortstop Trey Sweeney and second baseman Colt Keith made a quick and educational pivot.

As Skubal walked back to the dugout this time, he extended his arms and seemingly begged the crowd to bring them.

It was an incredible feat, especially considering the all-but-must-win nature of this game and the zero margin he was working with.

He leaned hard on his four-seam and sinker (66% of his throws). He got 17 called strikes on those two pitches, along with seven whiffs on 12 swings with his changeup.

Boyd, the former Tiger, was at the top of his game for 4.2 innings and was able to fend off two big scoring opportunities. Rookie Justyn-Henry Malloy, the leadoff, singled in the third inning and was in third place with two outs after a walk and a long flyout by Andy Ibanez.

Boyd got Riley Greene to ground out to second base on one pitch.

Wenceel Perez led off the fourth inning with a double and was on third base with one out. But Boyd struck out Parker Meadows chasing a slider and then blew away his old batterymate Jake Rogers with a 90-mph fastball.

Malloy singled into the rightfield corner in the fifth, but was thrown out trying to make it a double on a strong throw by Noel.

Boyd, in just his ninth start since returning from Tommy John surgery, had a lively four-seam fastball (92-94 mph) that he used to set up his changeup (seven whiffs on 11 swings) and slider. He struck out five.

The Tigers didn’t get a new baserunner until the seventh when Rogers walked with two outs. Matt Vierling hit a one-out double in the eighth against reliever Hunter Gaddis, the Tigers’ first hit on the Cleveland bullpen in seven innings in this series.

But with two outs, Guardians’ manager Stephen Vogt called on Clase.

Perez hit a sinking ship to the left. Kwan made a good jump on the ball and made a diving catch just before the ball hit the ground. Replays confirmed he had caught it.

Statcast and the website Inside Edge both gave Kwan a one-in-ten chance of making that catch.

Close, but still another empty inning for the Tigers offense. At that point, they had scored in just three of 35 innings in the postseason.

That would change an inning later.

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