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.

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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.

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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.

The Detroit Tigers’ season is on the line in Game 5.

It’s a simple scenario that hasn’t been present for this franchise in a decade; win and advance or lose and watch someone else lift the World Series trophy.

Just a couple months ago, there were very few people who thought they would be in this situation.

Way behind in the Wild Card race that caused the front office to become sellers at the trade deadline, the Tigers’ commitment to a youth movement sparked a huge turnaround that had them entering the playoffs as the hottest team in the American League.

But this magical run could end with one loss on Saturday.

The good news is Detroit will have their ace Tarik Skubal on the bump who has been historically good in his first two career playoff starts.

The troubling news is they are coming into this contest a little banged up.

Catcher Jake Rogers took some foul balls off his wrist that resulted in him needing X-rays after Game 4 to see if there was anything structurally wrong. Fortunately, the Tigers received a positive injury update on that front, and he should be good to go despite the bumps and bruises.

When it comes to their star outfielder Kerry Carpenter, though, they could run into a bit more trouble.

The slugger left the game following the sixth inning when he tweaked his hamstring scoring a run from second base that put Detroit up 3-2 on Thursday.

There was no new information on Friday, and at the time of writing, they are still weighing if the injury is severe enough if they have to replace him on the roster with Bligh Madris, who was added to their taxi squad in case that ultimately becomes the decision.

“Kerry was seen by the doctors last night. He’s going to be seen by the doctors again. We’re going to take as much time as we can to see what he can and can’t handle,” manager A.J. Hinch said per the team’s injuries and moves page.

If they remove Carpenter from the roster, then he would not be eligible to play in the American League Championship Series if they are able to win Game 5 and advance.

The Detroit Pistons have a clear “A” and “B” option on offense this season. 

They took the floor together for the first time on Friday, as Tobias Harris made his preseason debut after missing the first two games with COVID-19. He and Cade Cunningham got whatever they wanted against the Phoenix Suns and spearheaded a blowout victory. 

The Pistons defeated the Suns on the road, 109-91, to bounce back from a nine-point loss to the Suns in East Lansing on Tuesday to improve to 2-1 in preseason. Cunningham finished with a near-triple double — 25 points (on 10-for-16 shooting), 12 rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Harris tallied 22 points (on 8-for-13 shooting). 

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It was an encouraging performance that the team will look to build on with two exhibition games remaining before the regular-season opener on Oct. 23. As a team, the Pistons shot 48.8% despite hitting just 26.5% on 3-pointers. They also got another strong outing from Jaden Ivey, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the third period. 

Kevin Durant (18 points) and Bradley Beal (17 points) led the way for Phoenix. 

With Harris’ return, J.B. Bickerstaff debuted his third new starting lineup in as many games with he and Tim Hardaway Jr. replacing Simone Fontecchio and Malik Beasley. It was Hardaway’s second start, after getting the nod in the Pistons’ preseason opener Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Isaiah Stewart started the second half in place of Jalen Duren, who looked as though he might’ve tweaked something in his lower body during the first half.

Grand Rapids native Devin Booker missed the game for the Suns due to right ankle soreness. Bobi Klintman (right calf contusion) missed his third straight game for the Pistons. 

Tobias Harris, Cade Cunningham form potent duo in win

Harris quickly asserted himself as a go-to option, and Cunningham followed suit. 

The veteran forward scored the Pistons’ first seven points, and proceeded to make his first six shot attempts for an early 14 points in the first quarter. He scored in a variety of ways — a pair of pull-up jumpers from midrange, a pair of catch-and-shoot 3-pointers and a steal and transition dunk. 

After two quiet preseason games, Cunningham found his rhythm. He got going with a fast-break dunk after stealing the ball from Durant, then added a midrange jumper and a 3 later in the first quarter. 

Cunningham produced one of the top highlights of the night with another play involving on Durant, blowing past him with a spin move before finishing through contact with his left hand to draw a foul. The ensuing free throw brought him to 14 points at the end of the first quarter, on 6-for-7 shooting. 

The duo continued to knock down shots in the second. By halftime, they were responsible for 38 of the Pistons’ 65 points, on 15-for-22 shooting overall. They consistently generated their own looks and created for their teammates, accounting for eight of their 12 assists in the same span to help build a 15-point lead. 

It was as good a debut as the Pistons could’ve hoped for for Harris, who missed time this week on the injury report but immediately looked comfortable with the scheme. In practice earlier this week, he talked about getting acclimated during practice, before COVID-19 forced him to take time off. 

There are two preseason games remaining for him to settle in even further before the regular season opens.

“For a guy like myself, being able to catch and shoot, being able to find passing lanes for different guys for open looks and being aggressive and using my size and speed to punish the little guys, or blow by slower forwards, that’s been the name of the game my whole career,” he said Wednesday. “Obviously for us it’s just figuring out different guys, personnel-wise on the floor, how they complement each other and how we can make the game easy for each other.”

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.