Lane Thomas’ aggressive approach at the plate paid off again for the Cleveland Guardians in Game 5 of the ALDS on Saturday.

On the first pitch he saw from Detroit Tigers starter Tarik Skubal in the bottom of the fifth inning, Thomas blasted a grand slam to help the Guardians to a 7-3 victory and a place in the ALCS against the New York Yankees.

“He threw one pitch over the middle, and I put a good swing on it. It’s as simple as that,” Thomas said afterward. “I don’t know how many scoreless innings he threw [in the series]. It just takes one.”

Skubal had been cruising along, quieting the Guardians’ bats through four innings, which gave him a total of 17 scoreless innings pitched in this postseason. But in the bottom of the fifth, the AL pitching Triple Crown winner and likely Cy Young recipient got himself into a jam that he couldn’t escape.

Singles from Andrés Giménez, Steven Kwan and David Fry brought José Ramírez to the plate with the bases loaded. Instead of the Guardians’ third baseman doing it with his bat like he has done so many times during the season, Ramírez took one for the team — a hit by pitch on the arm — to tie the game 1-1.

With Skubal in a tough spot, it was a prime opportunity for Thomas to be aggressive. Much like he did with a first-pitch, three-run blast in Game 1, his grand slam struck a blow in the Tigers’ hopes with their ace on the mound.

Thomas, who had 9 RBI in the ALDS, loved swinging away when the count was 0-0 during the regular season. The 29-year-old outfielder, who was acquired from the Washington Nationals on July 29, was 18-for-63 (.286) with a home run and 9 RBI on first pitches this season. So far in October, he has three hits — two of them home runs — in such situations.

“That’s who we are. That’s who that group has been in that room all year. As soon as we get punched, we answer,” manager Stephen Vogt said postgame. ” … But we can’t rely on the home run. We have to string things together, and our guys did both today. And then we got the add-on runs at the end, and I thought today was just a perfect picture of who our team is at our best — and couldn’t have come on a better day.”

The Tigers had a chance to respond in the top of the sixth inning following Thomas’ blast. They brought in a run on a Jake Rogers single, which made it 5-2, and after a Trey Sweeney walk, the bases were loaded for righty-killer Kerry Carpenter.

Carpenter had started the game on the bench while battling a nagging hamstring injury. He pinch-hit for Justyn-Henry Malloy in the top of the fifth and promptly knocked a 370-foot single to right-center field, scoring Sweeney and giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

But in the sixth, Carpenter could not win the bases-loaded battle against Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis.

The Tigers scraped across one more run in the seventh, making in 5-3 before the Guardians added insurance runs in the seventh and eighth. Emmanuel Clase recorded the final six outs, including another massive strikeout of Carpenter in the eighth inning, to seal the victory for Cleveland.

“I have a heartbroken team for all the right reasons,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said afterward. “We left everything we could on the field against a really good team, and we didn’t want the season to end as abruptly as it did. …

“I just told the guys … Once you play in one October, you never want to miss one the rest of your career, ever. And so we’re going to need to do a lot of work to get better and continue to play the brand of baseball that is winning baseball.”

With the Game 5 victory, the Guardians advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2016. Game 1 of Guardians vs. Yankees will be Monday at 7:38 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium.

“You have to believe. If you don’t believe in your group, don’t even show up,” Vogt said. “We knew, as soon as we got back to Cleveland, we had a chance.”

Game 5 of the ALDS got started with a little franchise history for the Cleveland Guardians.

Steven Kwan stepped into the box in the top of the first inning with Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on the mound. Skubal took a perfect game into the fifth inning the last time he faced the Guardians, but Kwan started the game with a base hit.

This single extended Kwan’s postseason hitting streak to 10 games, which is tied with Kenny Lofton (1995) for the longest playoff-hitting streak in Cleveland franchise history. He had tied Tony Fernandez (1997) for the second-longest in Game 4.

The single that helped Kwan set franchise history almost wasn’t even ruled a hit. When Kwan made contact with the ball, it skipped past Skubal on the mound and ate up Andy Ibanez at second base. It was originally ruled an error on Ibanez but was quickly changed back to a base hit.

This isn’t the first time a Guardians batter has benefitted from a scoring change in this series. Jose Ramirez hit an RBI double in Game 1, but it was also originally ruled an error on Zach McKinstry. It took MLB over 24 hours and an appeal from the Guardians to rightfully change the play to a hit.

If the Guardians go on to beat the Tigers in Game 5, Kwan would have a chance to extend his hitting streak in the ALCS. Otherwise, he’ll have to wait until next fall and another hopefull Cleveland potseason appearence to set history.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Check out Week 8 Northeast Ohio high school football scores.

This post will be updated.

Thursday

Chagrin Valley Conference, Chagrin Division

Hawken 50, Orange 13

Lutheran West 23, West Geauga 20

Chagrin Valley Conference, Metro Division

Cuyahoga Heights 39, Beachwood 6

Chagrin Valley Conference, Valley Division

Kirtland 49, Chagrin Falls 0

Cleveland West Conference

Buckeye 59, Normandy 13

North Olmsted 14, Bay 10

Rocky River 28, Westlake 19

Greater Cleveland Conference

Strongsville 50, Shaker Heights 0

Lake Erie League

Maple Heights 40, Bedford 6

Senate Athletic League

East Tech 32, John F. Kennedy 8

John Hay 43, John Marshall 18

Rhodes at Lincoln West – canceled

Suburban League, American Conference

Copley 48, Barberton 27

Highland 41, Revere 0

Suburban League, National Conference

North Royalton 21, Twinsburg 14

Brecksville-Broadview Heights 28, Solon 19

Western Reserve Conference

Chardon 31, Mayfield 7

Kenston 31, Riverside 14

Friday

Akron City Series

Ellet 28, North 0

Chagrin Valley Conference, Chagrin Division

Perry 49, Harvey 13

Chagrin Valley Conference, Lake Division

Madison 44, Jefferson Area 6

Chagrin Valley Conference, Metro Division

Trinity 40, Brooklyn 12

Wickliffe 33, Independence 14

Chagrin Valley Conference, Valley Division

Berkshire 23, Crestwood 14

Fairview 56, Cardinal 20

Cleveland West Conference

Valley Forge 35, Lakewood 14

Greater Cleveland Conference

Mentor 45, Brunswick 14

Cleveland Heights 44, Medina 0

Lake Erie League

Lorain 60, Shaw 7

Garfield Heights at Warrensville Heights

Lorain County League

Black River 47, Brookside 14

Columbia 22, Clearview 18

Keystone 33, Firelands 18

Wellington 39, Oberlin 3

Mahoning Valley Conference, Grey Division

Brookfield 28, Ravenna Southeast 27

Garrettsville Garfield 40, Newton Falls 0

Metro Athletic Conference

Coventry 21, Akron Springfield 13

Field 37, Cloverleaf 10

Streetsboro 45, Ravenna 10

Norton 7, Woodridge 6

North Coast Conference

Lake Catholic 49, Elyria Catholic 6

Holy Name 13, Padua 7

Northeast Athletic Conference

Fairport Harding 43, Ashtabula St. John 13

Principals Athletic Conference

Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy 55, Canal Fulton Northwest 21

Manchester 34, Wooster Triway 27 3OT

Southwestern Conference

Amherst 44, Elyria 10

Olmsted Falls 43, Avon Lake 37 2OT

North Ridgeville 42, Berea-Midpark 33

Avon 49, Midview 10

Suburban League, American Conference

Aurora 49, Kent Roosevelt 14

Tallmadge 48, Cuyahoga Falls 7

Suburban League, National Conference

Hudson 23, Nordonia 22

Wadsworth 49, Stow-Munroe Falls 23

Western Reserve Conference

Willoughby South 27, Eastlake North 7

Nonconference

Cleveland Central Catholic at Lutheran East

Youngstown Chaney 28, University School 0

Archbishop Hoban 20, Glenville 0

Gilmour Academy 35, Brush 7

Canton Central Catholic 41, Richmond Heights 6

Erie (Pa.) 22, Euclid 0

Benedictine 42, Erie Cathedral Prep (Pa.) 14

Green 28, Louisville 0

Mogadore 47, Collinwood 0

Walsh Jesuit 63, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 21

Rootstown 42, Grand Valley 22

Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller 44, St. Ignatius 0

Canal Winchester Harvest Prep 40, St. Vincent-St. Mary 13

Youngstown Ursuline 24, Villa Angela-St. Joseph 17

Saturday

Akron City Series

Garfield at Buchtel, noon

Firestone vs. East at Ellet, noon

Nonconference

Mississauga Football North (Ontario) vs. St. Edward at Lakewood, 2 p.m.

Windham at Vanlue, 6 p.m.