While there's been chirping from the Cleveland area about their excellent closer Emmanuel Clase, the presumptive American League Cy Young winner for the 2024 season is Tigers southpaw Tarik Skubal. He gave Guardians fans a front row seat to witness his dominance first-hand in Game 2 of the ALDS, which finished as a hotly contested 3-0 Tigers victory.
That said, Skubal ended up not even being the biggest story of the day Monday. The honor there belonged to Kerry Carpenter, who clubbed a three-run home run off -- coincidentally -- Clase.
Carpenter didn't start the game. He pinch hit in the eighth inning when the Tigers were finally facing a right-hander in a spot where they were OK with replacing a starter. You see, he is one of the most extreme split guys in baseball. Take a look:
Carpenter vs. LHP: .107/.194/.214
Carpenter vs. RHP: .305/.363/.631
Yikes. He's a crusher of worlds against righties and he certainly put a damper on the Cleveland-area sports fandom world Monday.
Clase had only allowed two home runs in 74 1/3 innings during the regular season, by the way.
Still, there's no reason to beat around the bush here: While Carpenter is billed the hero and rightfully so, Skubal was the main reason the Tigers won this game. He took a perfect game into the fifth inning, absolutely carving the Guardians up early. He struck out seven through four innings and painted both the outside corner and the bottom on the zone with relative ease. He has another gear to him in big spots and displayed it several times, making otherwise difficult-to-K hitters like Steven Kwan and José Ramírez look silly.
The final line: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K.
Skubal did run into trouble in the fifth and sixth innings, but was able to induce double plays in order to work his way out of it.
He just needed a little help from his friends on offense in this one. He put them on his back while he was on the mound. Couldn't they muster just one run of support?
Through 8 2/3 innings, the answer was no. But then Jake Rogers singled through the right side with authority against Clase. Trey Sweeney singled into the right-center gap, enough that Rogers -- the catcher -- was able to get to third base and make the threat feel just that much more real. And then Carpenter brought the thunder.
The Tigers have felt impossible to kill down the stretch. They were 33-16 after Aug. 4 with so many comebacks. The Astros hadn't lost in the playoffs before the ALCS in nearly a decade before the Tigers took them out in two games -- including an eighth-inning comeback in Game 2 to ice the series.
Even a play late in this one that didn't go their way didn't hold them back. Wencell Pérez hit what looked like a go-ahead single, only to be corralled by Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan. The slow-motion replays weren't overly helpful. It certainly looked like the ball hopped a little and many would say it bounced off the ground, but there was just no camera angle that could show us definitively that the ball hit the ground. It seems like it surely did, but you never actually see it happening.
No matter. Winners make their own breaks and the Tigers prevailed even after this play. They've been winners for two months. Chalk up another one, this one mostly thanks to Skubal with Carpenter playing late-game hero.
And now, after another win that felt improbable, they head to Detroit with the ALDS tied, one game apiece.