DETROIT – Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each contributed a run, and six pitchers combined to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday and a 2-1 lead in their American League Division Series.

The Tigers, baseball’s hottest team of the past two months, will get their first chance to advance to the playoffs since 2013 in Game 4 at Comerica Park on Thursday night.

“We are human,” Torkelson said. “We know how close we are.”

Cleveland has gone 20 straight innings without scoring since opening the series with a five-run first and a two-run sixth in a 7-0 victory.

“Short sample size, obviously in the playoffs it’s much bigger,” David Fry said after going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, adding to the team’s eight runners still on base. “I think guys hit the balls hard. Balls don’t really fall.”

After AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal helped Detroit shut out Cleveland in Game 2, manager AJ Hinch put a stream of pitchers on the mound and kept the Guardians quiet at the plate.

Detroit reliever Will Vest came in with two on and two outs in the seventh and got David Fry to line out to Matt Vierling at third.

“He likes to pull the ball a lot, so I was ready for whatever came my way,” Vierling said. “I didn’t have time to think. I just had to react.”

Fans were on fire all day, chanting “Let’s go Tigers!” before Detroit’s first playoff field since 2014, and 44,885 people filled the stands for the largest crowd in Comerica Park’s 25-year history.

“This is a huge win for us, just to see the stadium and the entire city show up for the first playoff game in 10 years,” Vierling said.

Right-hander Keider Montero retired the side in the first inning, and the previously slumping Greene hit an RBI single with two outs in the bottom half.

Brant Hurter gave up five hits in 3⅓ innings. Beau Brieske threw two innings, and Sean Guenther got one out. Vest pitched 1⅓ innings before Tyler Holton fielded the ninth.

“Nothing that happened surprised us,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We were all prepared for it.”

It is the first time Detroit has recorded two shutouts in a postseason series. It is also the first time since the 1905 World Series that the first three games of a postseason series were all shutouts.

The Guardians had a chance to score in the third. Steven Kwan reached on a one-out infield single and advanced on a throwing error by short stop Tyler Sweeney. Jose Ramirez was walked intentionally with two outs, but Josh Naylor hit a groundout to end the inning.

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the third after No. 9 hitter Jake Rogers led off with a double, advanced to third on Parker Meadows’ grounder and scored on Vierling’s sacrifice fly.

Cleveland’s pitchers did enough to keep the AL Central champions in the game, but the lack of offense made it moot.

The Guardians went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

“I thought we set the table very well,” Vogt said. “We just couldn’t make a big hit.”

The Guardians gave righty Alex Cobb the start for his first appearance since September 1. He gave up two runs and three hits in three innings.

Eli Morgan gave up Torkelson’s RBI double in the sixth. The slugger had been 0 for 14 with nine strikeouts in the postseason.

“In the playoffs you don’t get caught up in the numbers, you just try to win and that’s what we do,” Torkelson said. “It felt pretty good to get through that.”

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Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bibee will start Game 4. Detroit will likely wait until Thursday to announce who will open on the mound as the first of at least a handful of pitchers it plans to play.