Detroit, MI
Detroit Tigers, Tarik Skubal slammed by Cleveland Guardians, 7-3, in Game 5 of ALDS
CLEVELAND — Guardians centerfielder Lane Thomas ended the Detroit Tigers’ season with one swing off the best pitcher in the American League.
After cruising through a relatively smooth first four innings, Tarik Skubal, the AL pitching Triple Crown winner, found himself in trouble in the bottom of the fifth and couldn’t escape.
Andrés Giménez, Steven Kwan and David Fry loaded the bases with one out on three singles, setting up Skubal against All-Star José Ramírez. Skubal tried to challenge Ramírez inside with a 99.9 mph fastball but hit Cleveland’s slugger on the hand to plate Cleveland’s first run and tie the game at 1.
Next up was Thomas after a mound visit, and he crushed the first pitch he saw — a 96.7 mph sinker down the middle — for a grand slam to put Cleveland ahead 5-1 and light the crowd’s fuse to stand and cheer nonstop the final four innings.
CATCHING UP: Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Guardians ALDS Game 5 updates
Cleveland’s five-run inning proved enough to outlast Detroit’s furious rally attempts late. The Tigers scrapped out two more runs but couldn’t catch Cleveland, ultimately falling 7-3. Skubal gave up five of the seven runs, which ties the most he allowed in a start in 2024. He pitched six innings, allowing five runs on six hits and a walk with six strikeouts.
The Tigers finished with a 90-79 record over 169 games including the seven-game postseason run (86-76 in regular season). It is the second straight time the Tigers have lost in the ALDS after making the postseason. The Guardians advance to face the New York Yankees in the ALCS, starting Monday.
Attempted comeback falls short
The Tigers got one run back in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single from Jake Rogers and worked the bases loaded with two outs to bring slugger Kerry Carpenter up as the potential go-ahead run with the score at 5-2. But Carpenter missed on a high fastball for strike three to end the threat.
In the seventh, Colt Keith doubled off the centerfield wall to score Riley Greene from first, but the Tigers ended the inning with a pair of strikeouts. Thomas drove in another run in the seventh inning to push Cleveland’s lead back up to 6-3.
Closer Emmanuel Clase came on with a runner on in the eighth inning for a would-be six-out save and shut down the Tigers, including striking out Carpenter to end the inning and staring him down as he walked off the mound. Cleveland added another insurance run and Clase pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the series win.
A STUNNING STORY: Stressful? You bet. But if Detroit Tigers say this ALDS Game 5 will be fun, have some.
One hamstring heroics
Carpenter’s status was in question the past 48 hours after he left Game 4 early with a hamstring injury. But the left-handed slugger was available off the bench and immediately made an impact despite still being clearly hobbled.
In the top of the fifth inning, Trey Sweeney drew a leadoff walk and Carpenter subbed in for leadoff hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy to face right-handed reliever Andrew Walters. Carpenter still had his same lightning-quick swing and connected with a Walters fastball in a 3-1 count. He drove it 370 feet to the wall in right-center field to plate Sweeney from first and briefly put the Tigers ahead, 1-0.
Kwan’t get out
Steven Kwan earned a reputation as an absolute thorn in the Tigers’ sides for all five games. He came into Game 5 batting .500 (8-for-16) in the series and finished with a third straight three-hit game to finish 11-for-21 (.523) in the series. He set a Guardians franchise record with three straight three-hit games and for most hits in a Division Series with 11. Kwan kicked off the fifth inning rally with an opposite-field single off Skubal that snuck under Matt Vierling’s glove at third.
Kwan finished Game 5 with three hits in five appearances and two runs scored, while Thomas went 2-for-4 with five RBIs.
Kwan along with Thomas would be up for series MVP if it existed for the ALDS. Thomas had the game-winning hits in Games 1 and 5, both on massive home runs to left with runners on base, while Kwan reached base 13 times in just five games.
Couldn’t convert early
The Tigers had traffic on the basepaths in the first two innings, but couldn’t get a run across the plate against former Tiger Matthew Boyd. Justyn-Henry Malloy was hit by the first pitch of the game, and Riley Greene walked to put two runners on with one out in the first inning. But Boyd struck out Andy Ibáñez and Wenceel Pérez to end the threat.
Parker Meadows hit a one-out double the opposite way down the line and then stole third to get a runner 90 feet away with one out, but Rogers popped out and Sweeney struck out to keep it scoreless. Boyd was pulled after the two scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
Cade Smith replaced Boyd and pitched into the fourth inning, where the Tigers created another threat. Spencer Torkelson ripped a two-out double to chase Smith and Meadows walked the next at-bat, but Rogers grounded out.
The Tigers finished the series 5-for-46 (.108) with runners in scoring position, including 1-for-12 in Game 5.
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.
Pistons vs Magic Game 1 reaction, lessons learned and what must change
Omari Sankofa II, Shawn Windsor and special guest Bryce Simon react to Detroit Pistons’ Game 1 NBA playoff loss to Orlando Magic, April 19, 2026, at Little Caesars Arena.
How in the world did things get so bad so fast for the Detroit Pistons?
In just one outing in the 2026 NBA playoffs, they went from top-seeded darlings of the Eastern Conference to punching bags punked by an 8-seed short on rest but long on resilience and toughness.
“I would say they ‘outphysical-ed’ us today,” Pistons wing Ausar Thompson said after the Orlando Magic stole Game 1 of the first-round NBA playoff series, 112-101, at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday, April 19. “One, because they got more rebounds than us. They forced more turnovers.”
Yes, this was always going to be a physical series. Though you would think the Pistons, owners of the NBA’s second-best defense and playing at home, would have a sizable advantage.
It also should have helped them that they were coming off six days’ rest, as opposed to the Magic coming off winning a play-in game just 47 hours earlier.
It didn’t help that Pistons star Cade Cunnigham was playing in just his fourth game since suffering a collapsed lung and missing 11 games. He scored a game-high 39 points, but he didn’t operate as smoothly as usual, with just four assists (far off his 9.9-assist season average) while committing three turnovers.
Another indictment of the Pistons’ worrisome play: Tobias Harris (19 points) was Cunningham’s only teammate who scored in double digits. Meanwhile, all five Magic staters did so, led by Paolo Banchero’s 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting.
And just like that, the Magic came out firing, scoring 35 points in the first quarter and never trailing.
“Yeah, just that we came out a little too tight, lax, whatever the word is, maybe both for some of us, but just didn’t come out with the right energy,” Cunningham said. “Gave them life further on. And then, you know, we had to deal with that for the rest of the game. We were better in stints, but can’t dig a hole like that.”
He’s right. The Pistons can’t dig a hole like that in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Because if they do, and they lose, the Magic would not only have homecourt advantage – they got that with Sunday’s victory – but could close out the series without another win in Detroit, with three of the next four games coming in Orlando.
That’s precisely what makes Game 2 a must-win game for the Pistons. It’s bad enough they lost the opener at LCA, where they were 31-9. But now they’ve let the Magic set a hard-edged tone in the kind of the game that could lead them to steal the series.
“I know that they feel great about this game,” Cunningham said. “This was a big win for them. They came in, they handled their business and stole one on the road. That’s what you want to do in the playoff series.
“So I’m sure that they feel great about that. Obviously, we’re sick about losing this one. It’s a long series, though. There’s no confidence dropped from us. We know that team. They know us. So it’ll be a long, fun series.”
Cunningham might be right, because the Pistons are arguably the better team. They have enough talent and more depth.
What the Pistons don’t have is the advantage of desperation. They had an excellent season from start to finish, closed with a 60-22 record, and wrapped up the East’s top seed on April 4.
The Magic, meanwhile, have been playing with fire (and not always the good kind) down the stretch, while their fifth-year coach, Jamahl Mosley, entered the postseason on the hottest of hot seats after his squad went 0-7 in road playoff games over the past two seasons.
To make things even worse, the Magic lost the regular-season finale to the Boston Celtics – well, their reserves, at least – to blow their chance at the 7-seed and homecourt in the play-in tournament. Then Orlando lost to the Philadelphia 76ers (on the road, of course) in the first play-in game before beating the Charlotte Hornets (in Orlando) to advance to a best-of-seven series – featuring four road games – vs. the Pistons.
Now, it looks like the Magic have found their form, as they routed the Hornets, 121-90, and stunned the Pistons. And just like that, Mosley went from hot seat to just plain hot.
Banchero wouldn’t go so far as to say the victory set up his team to steal the series, but he didn’t deny it was exactly the kind of start Orlando needed.
“It’s just a good win for us as a team getting it on the road against a great team and 1-seed,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we got to come back Wednesday, you know, reciprocate it, you know?
“They’re not going to lay down. They’re going to turn it up. So we’ve got to be ready for that. And it’s just one-game-at-a-time mentality, you know? That’s what it’s got to be. It’s the first of four.”
Yes, it’s just the first of four wins the Magic needs to advance. If the Pistons don’t find an answer quickly, the math – and hardly anyone else – won’t be on their side when they head to Central Florida this weekend.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
After getting absolutely annihilated in his previous start on Monday in Minnesota to the tune of 11 runs in just 1.2 innings, Garrett Crochet is set to retake the mound today and convince us all that everything will be fine as far as he and his health are concerned.
Unfortunately, he won’t just be battling the Tigers. Mother Nature is once again destined to play a roll in today’s match up, and here’s how the radar looks inside of an hour from first pitch:
The good news is the initial batch of heavier precipitation has moved out and east of Boston, but more unsettled weather still lurks to the west ahead of a slow moving front. That mess will push through eastern Massachusetts over the next several hours, filling in the current dry slot. While this incoming precipitation won’t be as heavy as what fell at times earlier today, it will come attached with colder and windier conditions, so a miserable weather game lies ahead (if they even try and play through it at all — The Yankees did not and waited around for three hours before starting their game against the Royals at 4:20pm). The other option will be to just wait until after sunset when it will be dryer, but still very cold and windy.
When they do get started, today’s lineup includes Roman Anthony leading off in leftfield, Andruw Monasterio at first base, and Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida, and Marcelo Mayer all starting on the bench with an opposing left-handed starter on the mound in Framber Valdez for Detroit.
OTM’s own pitching guru Jacob Roy will be around later to handle the postgame wrap and tell us if we should should be freaking out or breathing a sigh a relief when it comes to Crochet.
The Pistons have made recent moves to add more shooting, but still don’t have anyone quite as lethal as former Detroit guard Luke Kennard. On Saturday night, Kennard had a brilliant start to his postseason with 27 uber-efficient points for the Lakers in a win against the Rockets. His level of 3-point accuracy is something the Pistons have desperately been seeking all season long to bolster their offense.
Luke Kennard’s shooting makes him a dangerous playoff performer
Kennard was originally drafted to Detroit with the 17th pick of the 2017 Draft. The Pistons have plenty of draft regrets from that general era of team history, but picking Kennard has never been one of them. Despite any other weaknesses he may have, his strength as a shooter has always been enough to offset them.
In terms of pure 3-point percentage, Kennard is one of the best shooters in NBA history. He averages 44% behind the arc for his career, and shot a blistering 48% this season – the best mark in the league. Given his incredible track record, it’s not exactly a shocker to see him shoot 5-of-5 from three en route to 27 points in Game 1.
Not only is Kennard obviously an excellent standstill shooter, but he’s also a master of getting himself open with his movement. On Saturday night, he was able to play off LeBron James perfectly for a few easy looks. After that, he caught enough of a rhythm to create 3-point looks for himself, even in transition.
A player like Kennard is easily capable of turning an entire playoff game when he gets hot. In a close series, that one game where Kennard hits several threes can be all the difference his team needs to advance. If the Lakers do manage to win this series, even without Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves, Kennard’s shooting will be a major reason why.
The Pistons could use someone like Kennard
Kennard would be a perfect marginal addition for the Pistons that only makes them better without taking anything away from the team. To be fair, the Pistons do have two shooters who have been hot recently in Duncan Robinson and Kevin Huerter. But having more than one respected shooter on the court at a time is often necessary to maintain a solid offense in today’s NBA.
Given the Pistons’ current lack of shooting, any additional shooters are welcome. And Kennard is understandably one of the most feared shooters in the league, capable of bending defenses just by the threat of him taking a three. Rolling him out on the Pistons would surely open up more lanes for Detroit’s stars to attack the paint and score easier points.
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