CLEVELAND — The Tigers completed a three-game series sweep of the Guardians at Progressive Field with a comeback victory reminiscent of their incredible late-season tear last year. Zach McKinstry’s mad dash home on a wild pitch with two outs and two strikes in the ninth extended the game for Trey Sweeney’s go-ahead three-run homer and Riley Greene’s two-run homer in the 10th inning, giving Detroit its only lead of the afternoon for a 7-2 win on Sunday.
The Tigers return home from a 4-2 road trip up 13 1/2 games in the American League Central over the second-place Twins, by far the largest division lead in the Majors.
“Incredible win for us,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “and in dramatic fashion.”
On a day when Tarik Skubal pitched in Cleveland for the first time since Game 5 of last season’s AL Division Series, his seven scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts kept the Tigers in a scoreless duel with Gavin Williams, who held Detroit to one hit over six scoreless frames. Steven Kwan’s eighth-inning RBI double off Bailey Horn marked the first run of the afternoon and just the fifth of the series. It looked to be Sunday’s lone tally until the Tigers produced another memorable comeback off closer Emmanuel Clase. This one, however, did not include a hit.
Clase hit Spencer Torkelson to put the tying run on to lead off the ninth inning. Hinch had McKinstry in position to pinch-hit if Detroit could build a bigger rally, but put him in to run for Torkelson after Clase retired Wenceel Pérez.
“[Clase] was so long to the plate in the first at-bat, I knew he would change his delivery a little bit, just putting Z-Mac in there,” Hinch said. “If he lifted his leg, we were going to steal it. If he went slide step, maybe it would disrupt his timing to pitch. But Z-Mac’s a real threat.”
Two pitches later, Clase went with the high leg kick to Dillon Dingler, and McKinstry took off for second. Second-base umpire Willie Traynor initially ruled him out, but a replay review on the Tigers’ challenge quickly proved successful.
“Our rule of thumb is if he goes big leg kick with the green light, you’ve got it,” McKinstry said.
Dingler’s groundout moved McKinstry to third with two outs. Clase put Parker Meadows in a 1-2 count and put the crowd on its feet, but McKinstry was creeping down the line, waiting for a pitch in the dirt.
“[José] Ramírez was really far off the base, so I had a bigger lead,” McKinstry said. “That’s what I was waiting for. I was kind of anticipating the slider in the dirt or big hard cutter in the dirt, and it came. I was ready for it.”
Once Chase Lee stranded a leadoff double in the ninth and sent the game to extra innings, the Tigers pounced on Cade Smith in extra innings. They were 1-for-12 with two walks and eight strikeouts against Smith for his career entering Sunday, but they took advantage of their opportunity Sunday. Javier Báez’s leadoff bloop single put runners at the corners for Sweeney, who connected on a 97.8 mph high fastball and sent an opposite-field homer onto the left-field plaza for his fifth homer of the year. It marked his first homer off a fastball in his Major League career, according to Statcast.
“I was trying to start [my swing] a little earlier than usual and be a little shorter,” Sweeney said. “In the past, he’s kinda blown it past me quite a few times.”
Three batters later, Greene jumped a first-pitch fastball and sent it in the same direction for his 22nd homer of the year. He became the first Tiger with 22 or more homers through the team’s first 91 games since J.D. Martinez hit 26 in 2015. At age 24, Greene is the youngest Tiger with 22 homers before the All-Star break since Hank Greenberg in 1935.
The two teams combined for more runs in the 10th inning (seven) than they scored in the first 27 innings of the series (six). The Tigers scored the vast majority, sending them to a sweep at Progressive Field for the first time since April 10-12, 2015, when they won three straight as part of a 6-0 start to the season.
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