Tigers Advance to ALDS with Sweep of Astros

Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images

October 2, 2024

Tigers 5, Astros 2

The Detroit Tigers have secured a spot in the ALDS with a 5–2 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday in the AL Wild Card Series. Among the many highlights on Wednesday for the Tigers was a solo home run by Parker Meadows. This sweep by the Tigers ends a run of seven consecutive trips to the American League Championship Series for the Astros. The Tigers, meanwhile, have earned a date with the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series starting on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm Eastern at Progressive Field. The Tigers have yet to announce their starting pitcher, while the Guardians will send right-hander Tanner Bibee (12–8, 3.47 ERA) to the hill.

Meadows Goes Deep

Even though this series took place in Houston, the Tigers managed to fit some magic from the Motor City into their carry-on bags. The game remained in a scoreless tie for the first five innings. The Tigers broke the seal in the top of the sixth against Astros right-hander Hunter Brown, who was pitching against his boyhood team. Meadows silenced the capacity crowd with a leadoff solo home run that bounced off the foul pole in right.

Astros Leapfrog Tigers

The Astros took a 2–1 lead in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Jackson Jobe, one of seven pitchers the Tigers used in this game. Manager A.J. Hinch wasn’t taking any chances in a game like this. He took a big one, however, bringing in Jobe, who came into this game with two career major league appearances.

He hit Victor Caratini with a pitch to open the frame. Jeremy Peña followed with a single to center. Moments later, Mauricio Dubon beat out a bunt single up the third base line, loading the bases with nobody out. Jobe was sweating profusely and looked understandably nervous at this point. Jon Singleton entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Chas McCormick. Singleton reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Caratini, advanced Peña to third, and advanced Dubon to second.

Jake Meyers entered as a pinch-runner for Singleton at first. On deck was Jose Altuve, who plated Peña with a sacrifice fly, which was caught in foul territory in right by Matt Vierling.

Late-Inning Heroics

The Tigers regained the lead with interest in the top of the eighth off Astros reliever Ryan Pressly. After Meadows was called out on strikes to lead off the inning, Kerry Carpenter hit a sharp single to center. Vierling followed suit with another single up the middle. Carpenter scored from third on a wild pitch by Pressly, signaling the first blown postseason save of his career.

Riley Greene struck out swinging, bringing Colt Keith to the dish in this nail-biter. Pressly issued a free pass to Keith, sending Astros manager Joe Espada to the mound to bring in reliever Josh Hader. He walked the first batter he faced in the person of Spencer Torkelson. Andy Ibañez came in to pinch-hit for Zach McKinstry and doubled to left, scoring Vierling, Keith, and Torkelson, giving the Tigers a 5–2 lead.

What Went Right for the Tigers

The Tigers did what they had to do to win on Tuesday. Meadows’ homer in the sixth momentarily shifted the momentum in their favor. Ibañez’ three-run double in the eighth took the crowd of the equation. They also received a little help from Pressly’s wild pitch in that same inning, and Hinch’s tactic to keep the Astros off-balance with six pitching changes worked almost to perfection. With the potential of playing in the ALDS opener on Saturday, he decided to make the gamble. With this one in the books, Hinch’s entire pitching staff will be on three days’ rest, some of them longer.

What Went Wrong for the Tigers

There were many Tiger fans on social media who questioned Hinch’s decision to bring in Jobe in the seventh. A lot of them felt that reliever Beau Brieske was doing fine up to that point. Jobe’s inexperience cost the Tigers their slim lead and forced them to take drastic steps, which did with their four-run eighth.

Tigers’ Staff Tosses Eight Scoreless Frames

As previously mentioned, the Tigers used seven pitchers on Wednesday. Their starter, Tyler Holton, pitched the first inning and struck out one. Brenan Hanifee was next, and he tossed an inning and two thirds. He gave up a hit and a walk, and he struck out two. Brant Hurter came in and also pitched an inning and two thirds. He surrendered two hits and a walk.

Brieske also hurled an inning and two thirds, issuing a free pass and striking out one. After Jobe gave up his pair of runs in the seventh, Sean Guenther also went an inning and two thirds and notched his first win of the postseason. His outing was spotless. Will Vest earned his first save of the postseason after striking out one in the ninth.

Tough Day for Pressly

Apart from his blown save, Pressly took his first loss of his postseason career. He recorded two outs in the eighth, giving up three runs, all earned, on two hits. He also walked one and struck out two.

Hinch’s Postgame Comments

Meadows’ homer in the sixth was a good stepping stone for the Tigers. After the game, Hinch was asked what was going through his mind when it happened. “Baseball can be incredible,” he said. “Baseball can be cruel. I’ll take the good parts. I obviously have history on something like that. But that was just the beginning. It felt like that was going to be the biggest play of the game, and we had just gotten started. The game turned a couple different times after that. So it’s much better to be on this end of the foul pole than the other.”

Hinch also broke down his pitching plan for members of the media. “When I said chaos, I meant it,” Hinch said. “We had Hanifee up in the first. Really all we were planning on that we knew what was going to happen was Holton to Hanifee. After that, we needed Hanifee to be good. He got one of the biggest outs of the game that we won’t talk about, now I’ll talk about it, is the Heyward at-bat that allowed him to stay in the game and get to Altuve by getting out of that inning scoreless, which sets up Hurter to enter for the two lefties.”