HOUSTON – The Tigers came within nine outs of turning manager A.J. Hinch’s “pitching chaos” into their first postseason series win since 2013. Instead, they turned batting chaos into a comeback and a sweep of their AL Wild Card Series over the Astros, ending Houston’s run of seven consecutive trips to the ALCS.

An inning after the Astros pulled ahead with two runs off top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe, Andy Ibáñez punctuated a four-run eighth with a pinch-hit, bases-clearing double off Josh Hader, sending Detroit back in front for a 5-2 win Wednesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

“I think it's ... everybody, all the players, the staff coming together,” Ibáñez said via ESPN’s Alden González. “And we just needed to believe. That's the one thing that we were missing. We believed coming into this series and we ended up beating a great team in the Astros, and now we're moving on.”

The Tigers will face the AL Central-rival Guardians in a best-of-five Division Series beginning Saturday in Cleveland.

Opener Tyler Holton led a procession of four relievers through six scoreless innings, including five outs from Game 1 closer Beau Brieske to protect a 1-0 lead built on Parker Meadows’ sixth-inning solo homer. Jobe entered for the seventh in his third Major League appearance, but a hit-by-pitch, Jeremy Peña single and Mauricio Dubón bunt single loaded the bases for a Jonathan Singleton RBI and a Jose Altuve sac fly.

Sean Guenther, the Tigers’ third lefty of the afternoon, prevented further damage with a Kyle Tucker double play that loomed larger once Kerry Carpenter and Matt Vierling hit back-to-back one-out singles off Ryan Pressly. Pressly’s wild pitch in the dirt to Riley Greene bounced to the backstop as Carpenter dashed home with the tying run.

Wenceel Pérez was springing out of the dugout to bat for Spencer Torkelson following Colt Keith’s two-out walk when the Astros turned to Hader. Torkelson stayed in and drew a four-pitch walk, loading the bases and bringing Ibáñez out of the dugout to pinch-hit for Zach McKinstry.

“We’ve been doing this all year, and [Ibáñez] was really ready,” Hinch said. “And you’ve got to believe. It's one of the toughest relievers he's going to face all year. He comes through with the biggest hit of the year, but nothing new.”

Hader put Ibáñez in an 0-2 hole as he kept firing sinkers, but his fifth in a row was just high enough for Ibáñez to rip into the left-field corner, scoring three. They were his first RBIs since Sept. 10, and one more than his RBI total over his final 48 at-bats since Aug. 26.

Guenther, who hadn’t pitched in the Majors since 2021 until the Tigers called him up in August, retired the Astros in the eighth before Will Vest pitched a perfect ninth, sending the Tigers onward.

“We're going to keep playing,” Hinch said. “We're going to keep playing and fight for the whole 27 outs. One thing that I know: This team is pretty gritty, and they're going to get after it and finish the day.”