Detroit Tigers whiff on finding one final winning moment in ALDS loss to Cleveland

CLEVELAND — As Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch pointed out this week, every moment of playoff baseball is magnified because it can swing a series. And in the five-game sample from the Tigers and Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, the Guardians found a way to come up with the final winning moment. Cleveland emerged from the back-and-forth ALDS series by taking the decisive Game 5 on Saturday, 7-3. The Tigers jumped ahead early 1-0 in the top of the fifth inning, but the Guardians responded with five runs in the bottom, including a Lane Thomas grand slam off Tarik Skubal that ended up being the game-winning hit. On that swing, the Guardians found their one extra thing to push them past the Tigers. The evenly matched series from the regular season — won by the Guardians, 7-6, despite being outscored by the Tigers — carried over into an intense five-game postseason showdown, with the more experienced team finding a way to gut it out. "When you see how close the game is on so many levels and so many instances, you know, obviously they did just a little bit more," Hinch said. "And so it doesn't surprise me given how we played these guys the entire season. But hats off to them for winning this series as opposed to anything else." RAINER SABIN:In ALDS Game 5 loss, Tarik Skubal and Detroit Tigers not indestructible after all The five-run fifth snapped a 17-inning postseason scoreless streak from Skubal and, more importantly, put the Tigers in a hole that proved impossible to climb out of against Cleveland's arsenal of bullpen arms. Detroit scraped out a run apiece in the sixth and seventh innings, but the Guardians matched with two insurance runs, including another driven in by Thomas. "You dream of moments like that on this stage and in this moment,” said Thomas, who finished 2-for-4 with five RBIs. The Guardians' victories can be narrowed down to three key turning points — along with the complete effort from the pitching staff in neutralizing the Tigers' bats — Thomas clinched the series with the grand slam after David Fry won Game 4 with a late 2-run home run and Thomas blew the cap off a Game 1 blowout with a three-run first-inning homer. "It was indicative of our matchups throughout the regular season, and it's kind of whoever got the big hit was going to win," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt told reporters. "And fortunately Lane got it, and then we added on. They didn't go away." Vogt's ecstasy stood in stark contrast to Hinch, who described himself as having a "heartbroken team" to address in the clubhouse, while agreeing that the series came down to just a few key moments. "I wish I could sleep it off and then get to the next game," Hinch said. "I mean, that's the goal. But this was an incredible series. It's great for baseball. It's great for the AL Central." The Tigers put themselves in position for winning plays in two previous games but could not find the winning moments a third time. The Tigers finished the series 5-for-46 (.108) with runners in scoring position, including 1-for-12 in Game 5 — the only hit came from Jake Rogers in the sixth inning to cut the Guardians' lead to 5-2. On Saturday, the Tigers had runners in scoring position in the first, second, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but couldn't crack former teammate Matthew Boyd or the plethora of relievers that succeeded him. "It was part of the story today," Hinch said. "We had a lot of opportunities. If you look down, they only had opportunities in three or four innings. We had it in seven or eight. But they got the biggest swing in the biggest moment with the most at stake and separated themselves, and they were able to hang on with a beast of a bullpen that is tough to deal with." Skubal cruised through the first four innings looking every bit of the AP pitching Triple Crown winner that dominated all season and in two playoff starts. But he ran into trouble in the fifth and missed with one pitch in the biggest at-bat of the series; Thomas, meanwhile, didn't flinch at the middle-middle fastball and put it in the left field seats. "It's just one pitch," Skubal said. "It's just one pitch that I'd love to have back. ... It's just one pitch and credit to him, he didn't miss it. And what a swing. So that's where I was at. In the moment you're thinking about executing the pitch and I didn't do that." The inning began with an Andrés Giménez single the other way, a strikeout and a Steven Kwan opposite-field single to put two on. Fry poked a grounder into the gap between Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson for an infield single to load the bases for José Ramírez. Skubal hit Ramírez in the hand to plate one run before a mound visit and then Thomas' at-bat. The first-pitch sinker to Thomas was supposed to be inside, but instead "it kind of leaked over the plate a little bit," Rogers said. "And Lane did what he was supposed to. They are a lot of good hitters." The Tigers have not lost faith in their ace after his first loss since Sept. 12. Skubal himself said he felt "crisp" despite the sideways fifth, and Hinch said he's already waiting to put his name back on a lineup card. "Today wasn't his fault," Hinch said. "I mean, he was in complete control of the game, and wish we would have staked some runs for him to give him a little bit of breathing room, and it was a big blow. This one is going to eat at him through the entire offseason because of what was at stake. But give me that guy again in a playoff series, in a playoff-deciding game, and I look forward to putting his name in the starting lineup as a pitcher." "That's the game, right?" Skubal said. "One swing, one pitch and that's what happens in these scenarios. That's what happens in the postseason, most games are won by the team that has the big swing which is usually a homer." Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press covering the city's professional teams, the state's two flagship universities and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22, and email him at jramsey@freepress.com.