CLEVELAND – After one of the most remarkable campaigns we’ve ever seen from a relief pitcher, it was hard not to get excited about the first time Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase appeared in a postseason game in a high-leverage situation against the best opponent’s bat.

In Game 2 of the ALDS on Monday, we got our first look at such a showdown, as Clase entered the late stages of a classic postseason pitchers’ duel with the score stuck at 0-0. Tigers ace Tarik Skubal managed to improve on his excellent play-off debut last week in Houston, posting seven near-flawless frames against a Guardians line-up that barely stood a chance.

But veteran left-hander Matthew Boyd had matched Skubal for more than four innings before turning the game over to baseball’s best bullpen, keeping the outs coming. Detroit and Cleveland traded defensive gems and near-rallies for eight innings until Clase was on the mound with the game on the line.

Kerry Carpenter enters.

The Tigers outfielder has very specific skills. He is not a particularly gifted defender. He’s not particularly fast. He is a left-handed bat and struggles with left-handed pitching, with a .588 career OPS against lefties. But when Carpenter steps into the box against a right-handed pitcher, he is one of the best hitters in the world.

That’s not an exaggeration. Of batters with at least 250 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers this year, only Aaron Judge (1.132 OPS), Shohei Ohtani (1.128 OPS), Bobby Witt Jr. (1.012 OPS) and Juan Soto (.999 OPS) more successful than Timmerman (.994 OPS).

Perhaps we’ll see Clase face one of those four better-known superstars later this month; all four remain in the game as potential future Guardians opponents. But on Monday it was Timmerman who represented Clase’s most difficult client.

Like Clase, Carpenter had started Game 2 waiting for his name to be called. His struggles against lefties, combined with Detroit’s superior ability to plug into the lineup, have turned Carpenter into something of a platoon power-up, someone who slots into the heart of the order against right-handed starters and looms large in the dugout. , waiting to be deployed, when a left-hander starts the game for the opponent.

“Obviously he’s the focal point of our attack,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said after his team’s 3-0 victory. “When we deal with right-handed pitching, he usually bats second, third or fourth. If not, he has his helmet on and his bat in his hand pretty much every inning until we decide to let him go.

That moment arrived in the top of the eighth inning. Hinch pressed his most valuable bench button and tapped Carpenter to pinch-hit for Justyn-Henry Malloy to take the lead against right-handed reliever Hunter Gaddis. Carpenter worked the entire count before emerging on a slider just a touch inside. A number of Tigers runners followed, bringing Clase into the game with two outs. Then the rally was thwarted by an excellent diving catch in left field by Steven Kwan, robbing Wenceel Perez of a possible lead.

After a 1-2-3 eighth from Will Vest, Clase emerged from the Guardians dugout again to keep the match scoreless for another frame. To give Carpenter another chance against Clase in the ninth, several batters at the bottom of Detroit’s rankings had to reach base against the best closer in the world. A Spencer Torkelson strikeout followed by a Parker Meadows popout wasn’t a particularly encouraging start.

But then catcher Jake Rogers stroked a 100-mph cutter into left field for a single, and rookie Trey Sweeney, facing Clase for the first time in his life, calmly followed with a single of his own. Timmerman would get his chance.

“What about the three two-out hits?” Hinch said next. “Clearly, Kerry, we want him to get going in those moments as often as possible. He can change the scoreboard. He can change the game. He can do it, he does it again and again.

“But you have to get guys to do something for him to give him that opportunity, and we had three hits from two outs against the best closer in baseball.”

For Carpenter to come through for the Tigers, he had to defy the limits seemingly set by his formidable opponent: not once this year had Clase allowed more than two hits in a single appearance. And as good as Carpenter is against right-handed pitching, it pales in comparison to the extent to which Clase has neutralized left-handed bats: among pitchers who face at least 100 left-handed batters in a season, Clase’s .282 OPS allowed was the lowest in MLB history.

This evening, however, Clase’s command faltered noticeably with each passing pitch. Two cutters that missed outside gave Carpenter a favorable 2-0 lead. A third cutter was better positioned on the outside half, and Carpenter fouled it. Then catcher Bo Naylor set up outside for a 2-1 slider, and Clase misfired, but Carpenter swung at the high-and-tight 90-mph spinner for strike two. The count was again in Clase’s favor, but the closer didn’t hit his spots. Once again Naylor sat out, and once again Clase’s slider had other plans, this time landing in the middle of the strike zone. Timmerman made a weak mistake with his foot.

As he readied himself for another 2-2 pitch, Naylor was even more demonstrative, gesturing to the ground with his glove as if pleading with his pitcher to keep his next offering — a third consecutive slider against a left-handed hitter, an extremely rare sequence. that Clase had only been executed once this season – out of danger.

Instead, a copy of the previous pitch — a slider in the middle, right where any left-handed hitter would want it — flew toward home plate. This time Timmerman didn’t miss it.

“I wasn’t on it,” he explained after the game, “but I was just in time for his hardest throw… and my instincts took over, and he missed a spot, so I took advantage of that. “

There was not an ounce of doubt. The ball left the bat at 110 mph, the fastest exit velocity of Carpenter’s career and the heaviest hit ball allowed in Clase. Right fielder Will Brennan jogged helplessly to the wall before watching the ball sail far over his head and into the seats. A progressive field full of Guardians fans were left stunned and unable to fathom Clase faltering. The jubilant Tigers fans scattered throughout the stands celebrated, equally shocked.

Matt Vierling followed Carpenter’s blast with an infield single, and Clase’s outing was over after 28 pitches. For the first time all year, manager Stephen Vogt walked to the mound and asked Clase for the ball. As the poet walked slowly back to his dugout, the Cleveland crowd consoled him with a warm ovation — an unusual sight after such a poor performance, but still an appropriate response considering all that Clase had accomplished thus far.

“Emmanuel has been on lockdown all year,” Vogt said after the game. “He’s been almost perfect… and he’s only human. These things are going to happen, and it’s unfortunate the timing of when that happened, but at the same time he’s going to have the ball back in the ninth. This is the best closer in the game for a reason, and they just so happened to get him tonight.”

Almost the entire season the opponents failed to break through against Clase. Through the first 17 innings of this series, the Tigers couldn’t do much against Cleveland’s pitching. With one strike, Carpenter Clase capped 60% of the earned points (3) he allowed in the regular season (5) — giving the first points of this ALDS for a Tigers team that now returns to its home park with the series equal 1-1.

It was the latest and greatest moment for a player who has meant so much to Detroit’s lineup during the team’s late-season surge. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Detroit’s push for the postseason began in earnest when Carpenter returned from the injured list in mid-August. After missing more than two months due to a back injury, Carpenter was reinstated prior to a three-game series against a Mariners team that had just defeated the Mets. The Tigers, meanwhile, had just dropped a series in San Francisco, dropping their playoff chances to a paltry 0.3%.

Upon his return, Carpenter made an immediate impact. He crushed two home runs off George Kirby in a 15-1 loss in the series opener against Seattle and hit a game-tying eighth inning the next day. The Tigers defeated the Mariners to mark the beginning of what has truly proven to be a special journey – one that is still ongoing nearly two months later, thanks in large part to Carpenter’s continued contributions.

“We’ve missed him so much all year,” Hinch said. “And this is an example – it’s easy today to say why. But (there are) so many other things that he brings to the table that have an incredible impact on our team.”

With veteran right-hander Alex Cobb set to start for Cleveland in Game 3, it’s a safe bet that when this series resumes Wednesday in Detroit, Carpenter will be in the starting lineup. While his next big moment has yet to be determined, one thing is certain: a Comerica Park crowd that hasn’t seen postseason baseball in a decade will greet him with a hero’s welcome.

Two wins removed from the ALCS, Carpenter can continue to make his mark on this memorable Tigers run.