MLB

Cleveland Guardians at Detroit Tigers

· ALDS - Game 4
Cleveland Guardians
92-69, 42-39 Away
Final
5 - 4
Detroit Tigers
86-76, 43-38 Home

Fry's 2-run homer, squeeze bunt lead Guardians over Tigers 5-4 and force ALDS Game 5

“David Fry is one of the best baseball players in this league,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

Cleveland ended a streak of 11 losses in postseason elimination games dating to Game 6 of 1997 World Series after Emmanuel Clase retired got five outs for his third multi-inning save of the year.

“It’s win or go home,” Vogt said. “You want your best pitchers out there as long as possible.”

AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal will start Game 5 for the Tigers on Saturday night in Cleveland.

“It’s always comforting to have Tarik Skubal on the mound,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said.

The winner advances to the AL Championship Series against the Yankees in New York starting Monday.

“We’re still one win away,” Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkeslon said. "That’s the mindset. We don’t want it easy. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

Fry said the Guardians’ resilience was no surprise.

“We’ve shown that all year long, that’s who these guys are,” he said. “We have a bunch of tough dudes. We get down 2-1 and we’re in the locker room like it’s just another day. We show up ready to play to try and get a win. And let’s go win Game 5.”

On the verge of reaching the ALCS for the first time since 2013, the Tigers overcame a 2-1 deficit when Zach McKinstry homered in the fifth off Tanner Bibee and Wenceel Pérez hit a run-scoring single in the sixth.

Steven Kwan singled off Sean Guenther with two outs in the seventh.

Beau Brieske had pitched scoreless ball for 5 1/3 innings over four postseason appearances before Fry, batting for Kyle Manzardo, drove a fastball off an advertising sign between the two bullpens in left for the second pinch-homer in Cleveland postseason history after Hank Majeski in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series.

Fry hit the fourth go-ahead pinch home run in postseason history when trailing in seventh inning or later after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series, Toronto’s Ed Sprague in the 1992 World Series and Atlanta’s Eric Hinske in the 2010 NL Division Series

That quieted 44,923 fans who set a playoff attendance record for the second straight day at 25-year-old Comerica Park.

“Such a great baseball game,” Vogt said.

Clase preserved a 4-3 lead in the eighth when he escaped a second-and-third jam by striking out Trey Sweeney on a 100.9 mph cutter as the batter’s helmet came off.

Brayan Rocchio and Kwan hit one-out singles in the ninth and Fry bunted back to reliever Will Vest. Rocchio slid home headfirst to beat Vest's backhand flip, boosting the lead to 5-3.

That proved to be important.

Pinch-hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy doubled leading off the ninth, advanced on Parker Meadows’ groundout and scored on Jace Jung’s groundout.

Clase, who gave up Kerry Carpenter’s three-run homer in the ninth inning of the 3-0 loss in Game 2, struck out Matt Vierling, who couldn’t check his swing on a low and outside cutter.

“I was really excited to get to the mound, especially getting the trust back from the manager to get me in that role and that responsibility,” Clase said through an interpreter.

Lane Thomas ended the Guardians’ 20-inning scoreless streak with a two-out RBI single in the first off Reese Olson, who did not allow a run in the first inning of 22 regular-season starts

Sweeney hit a sacrifice fly in the second and José Ramírez put Cleveland ahead with a fifth-inning homere off Tyler Holton, ending an 0-for-10 skid.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Carpenter injured his left hamstring when he scored in the sixth and was pinch hit for in the seventh.

“It’s concerning, but I’m going to hold off any thoughts until the doctors give me an update and he gets imaging and all the things that we need to do prior to Saturday,” Hinch said.

UP NEXT

LHP Matthew Boyd may start Game 5 for the Guardians, whose last Game 5 was a loss to the Yankees in the 2022 ALCS. Vogt said the team will make that decision Friday.

How can I watch Cleveland Guardians vs. Detroit Tigers?
  • TV Channel: Guardians at Tigers 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on TNT.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Tigers: 47.5%
Guardians: 52.5%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

9th Inning Vierling struck out swinging.
9th Inning Jung grounded out to second, Malloy scored.
9th Inning Meadows grounded out to second, Malloy to third.
9th Inning Malloy doubled to left.
9th Inning Malloy hit for Rogers
9th Inning J. Naylor flied out to left.

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/cle.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originCLE https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/det.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originDET
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
0 Hit By Pitch 1
12 Ground Balls 9
6 Strikeouts 10
5 Runs Batted In 4
1 Sacrifice Hit 0
11 Hits 9
1 Stolen Bases 0
1 Walks 4
0 Catcher Interference 0
5 Runs 4
0 Ground Into Double Play 1
0 Sacrifice Flies 1
38 At Bats 33
2 Home Runs 1
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 0
14 Runners Left On Base 20
0 Triples 0
1 Game Winning RBIs 0
0 Intentional Walks 0
1 Doubles 2
21 Fly Balls 15
0 Caught Stealing 0
158 Pitches 145
0 Games Started 0
2 Pinch At Bats 3
1 Pinch Hits 2
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
1 Is Qualified In Steals 0
18 Total Bases 14
40 Plate Appearances 39
324.0 Projected Home Runs 162.0
3 Extra Base Hits 3
5.8 Runs Created 5.1
.289 Batting Average .273
.500 Pinch Hit Average .667
.474 Slugging Percentage .424
.237 Secondary Average .273
.308 On Base Percentage .359
.781 OBP Pct + SLG Pct .783
0.6 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 0.6
5.6 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 5.3
40.0 Batter Rating 32.0
19.0 At Bats Per Home Run 33.0
1.00 Stolen Base Percentage 0.00
3.95 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 3.72
.184 Isolated Power .152
0.17 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.40
.025 Walks Per Plate Appearance .103
-.053 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average .000
10.0 Runs Produced 8.0
1.0 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.5 Patience Ratio 0.5
0.3 Balls In Play Average 0.4
90.5 MLB Rating 83.0
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Comerica Park

Location: Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 44,923 | Capacity:

2024 American League Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Cleveland 92 69 .571 - L2
Kansas City 86 76 .531 6.5 W1
Detroit 86 76 .531 6.5 L2
Minnesota 82 80 .506 10.5 L4
Chicago 41 121 .253 51.5 W2
Full Standings