Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson drove in runs with hits and Detroit blanked Cleveland 3-0 on Wednesday to reach the brink of advancing in the Major League Baseball playoffs.
The Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five American League division series, which continues Thursday in Detroit.
“I like winning. We’ve got a chance tomorrow so let’s go ahead and do it,” Tigers catcher Jake Rogers said.
The Tigers, who missed the playoffs the past nine years, played their first post-season home game since 2014 before a record crowd of 44,885 as they seek their first AL Championship Series since 2013.
“The fans were electric,” Rogers said. “We wanted to bring playoff baseball back to Detroit and here we are. So, yeah, tomorrow is going to be a big day and we’re excited to get going.”
Cleveland has not reached the ALCS since 2016, when the club lost the World Series to the Chicago Cubs in seven games. The team hasn’t won a World Series since 1948.
Detroit opened the scoring in the first inning when Parker Meadows singled, advanced on a ground out and scored on Greene’s single up the middle.
Rogers padded the Tigers lead in the third when he doubled, took third base on a Meadows ground out and scored on Matt Vierling’s sacrifice fly.
In the sixth, Colt Keith singled, took second on Eli Morgan’s wild pitch and scored for a 3-0 Detroit lead on Torkelson’s double to left field, his first playoff hit after an 0-for-14 start.
The Guardians, who have struggled through 19 consecutive scoreless innings, stranded eight base runners in the first seven innings, the last two when Tigers third baseman Vierling caught David Fry’s line drive to end the seventh.
Tigers reliever Beau Briskie pitched two no-hit innings with three strikeouts into the seventh, Will Vest pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings through the eighth and Tyler Holton closed out the victory in the ninth.
Kansas City will visit the New York Yankees later Wednesday in the other AL division series while both NL division matchups continue with the New York Mets trying to advance at Philadelphia and the San Diego Padres trying to eliminate the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.
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