Tigers on cusp of 1st ALCS since 2013 thanks to pitching chaos

DETROIT -- For a fleeting moment Wednesday, A.J. Hinch looked like he might take a day off from pitching chaos.

Keider Montero needed just six pitches to retire the top of the Guardians' lineup to open Game 3 of the AL Division Series, the first postseason game at Comerica Park in a decade. As Montero descended the steps into the dugout, Hinch bypassed the usual end-of-outing handshake or keep-it-up fist bump and instead put his arm around Montero for a few words.

"He didn't know what our strategy was before the game," Hinch said. "He knew he was starting the game."

In went left-hander Brant Hurter, who had some idea of the plan.

“They’ll give me a rough estimate, a couple of situations,” Hurter said. “‘In this situation, you might come in. If not, then you’ll start with this guy.’”

It was controlled chaos, as lefty Sean Guenther likes to put it. And for the second time in three tries this postseason, it worked. When everything settled from a procession of pitching changes, pinch-hitters and countermoves, the Tigers had a 3-0 win and control of the series, one win away from their first trip to the AL Championship Series since 2013.

It was pitching and hitting chaos, and it was mastery from Hinch, whose team has held the Guardians scoreless since the seventh inning of Game 1, a 20-inning drought.

“So far, the way that he’s managing this team is probably the best in the league right now,” said Beau Brieske, who retired all six batters he faced, three by strikeout, from the fifth inning into the seventh.

With a chance to finish the series Thursday, the Tigers are likely to try the strategy again, this time with right-hander Reese Olson available for bulk innings and likely everyone but Brieske and Hurter available. If it works, the Tigers can go into the ALCS with Tarik Skubal ready to start Game 1 on Monday at Kansas City or Yankee Stadium. If not, Detroit can turn to Skubal for a winner-take-all Game 5 in Cleveland.

Entering the 2024 Division Series, best-of-five postseason series that have been tied 1-1 have seen the team winning Game 3 go on to take the series 45 of 62 times (73%). Under the current 2-2-1 format, teams leading 2-1 and playing Game 4 at home had taken the series 25 of 31 times (81%). Of those 25 series victories, 18 came at home in Game 4.

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Cleveland first-year manager Stephen Vogt loaded his lineup with left-handed hitters to counter the right-handed Montero, who was a starter for most of the summer but moved into a bulk pitching role in September before being left off the roster for the Tigers’ AL Wild Card Series sweep in Houston. Once Hurter entered, so did the right-handed threats, including Jhonkensy Noel to pinch-hit before Will Brennan could get a plate appearance, and David Fry for Kyle Manzardo.

“We kind of knew in the back of our minds that they could have done that,” Vogt said. “And given the situations that we were in, they were high leverage, so we thought that was the opportunity to take our shot, both with Noel and Fry coming up on the back end.”

It was the move Hinch figured on. Cleveland had the platoon advantage in 71.6 percent of its plate appearances in the regular season, five percent more than any other MLB team.

“You kind of expect it,” Hinch said. “The big outs are huge. The reason they're doing it is because they like that matchup. We do a lot of that, so you certainly can appreciate the effort to try to get a good matchup, especially with guys on base and pinch-hitting before guys even getting an at-bat.”

The Guardians hit five singles in 16 batters off Hurter, but they couldn’t get the breakthrough hit they needed. Hurter retired Bo Naylor to strand runners at the corners in the second inning, and Josh Naylor to strand two more in the third. Once back-to-back singles brought up the middle of Cleveland’s order in the fifth, Hinch turned to Brieske, who fanned Fry on a slider before getting a flyout to center from José Ramírez.

“Isn't it crazy,” Hinch said, “how Beau closes [Game 2 and then] pitches the middle of the game? [Tyler] Holton opens Game 1 and then closes Game 3. For those that have been around us and what we're doing, that's kind of how we've done it, and the guys continue to respond.”

After Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series in Houston, Guenther called it trust and belief: Trust that you’re being put in a position to succeed, and belief that you can do the job.

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“To be quite honest, I had absolutely no idea when I was going to pitch today,” Brieske said. “I got the second call today, and I was like, ‘Alright, here we go.’

“I just trust that I’ll be ready.”

Six pitchers combined for a six-hit shutout on two walks and six strikeouts. Four of those strikeouts came from Guardians who entered as pinch-hitters, capped by Holton fanning Austin Hedges in the ninth.

Three pitchers faced Ramírez, four if you count Hurter’s intentional walk with a runner on second and two outs in the third inning.

“I want credit for the intentional walk, because I don't like doing that,” said Hinch, who intentionally walked Ramírez three times in a game in July.

“Obviously, with this type of strategy that we have, we can give different looks to different guys," he added. "We can give -- you know, you have a [6-foot-6] lefty all the way to some fireball right-handers to Holton throwing backdoor cutters to Brieske throwing turbo sinkers and changeups.

“Part of the way our roster is built and the reason we're maximizing strengths is we can do a lot of different things to hitters. It's not easy to face four different guys, but you need the guys to do it, to throw strikes and pound the strike zone and go right after guys and get big outs, and we did all of that.”