An improbable run hit a most improbable wall.
With the Tigers leading the Guardians 1-0 after another heroic swing by Kerry Carpenter, Tarik Skubal -- the best pitcher in baseball, the man who had surrendered one run in his prior four starts and none in the playoffs -- gave up a grand slam. It rang off the bat of Lane Thomas in the fifth, the death knell for the Tigers in a 7-3 loss in Game 5 of the ALDS.
Detroit's offense bears as much of the blame for blowing a number of opportunities over the course of the game, a theme of the series. The Tigers went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, left 10 men on base and struck 16 times on Saturday. They put pressure on Cleveland's bullpen in the sixth, seventh and eighth, but couldn't come up with the big hit against several different relievers.
The Tigers' charge to the playoffs was fueled by pitching and timely offense. It looked like they had more in the tank when Carpenter pinch-hit in the top of the fifth on an injured hamstring and crushed a ball off the wall in right center to drive home Trey Sweeney from first and give Detroit the lead. Moving on one leg, Carpenter hobbled his way to first.
At the time, the Guardians had two hits off of Skubal, who had also silenced them in Game 2. They finally made noise in the bottom of the fifth. Singles by Andres Gimenez and Steven Kwan -- who tormented the Tigers throughout the series -- and a squibbed two-strike infield hit by David Fry loaded the bases for Jose Ramirez. Skubal plunked him on the arm with a sinker.
On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Thomas drilled a 97 mph fastball at the knees over the big wall in left and sent Progressive Field into pandemonium.
The loss hurts for the Tigers, but it doesn't erase two memorable months. The club clawed its way to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years by overcoming a 10-game deficit in the wild card race on Aug. 10, then knocked off Houston to bring playoff baseball back to Comerica Park.
The Tigers became the second team in MLB history, and the first since the 1973 Mets, to make the postseason after being at least eight games under .500 in August.
Their charmed run just ran out of magic.