The American League Central has three teams still alive in the postseason.
The Detroit Tigers swept the Houston Astros to set up a series against the division champion Cleveland Guardians in a best-of-five AL Division Series. Game 1 is on Saturday.
The Kansas City Royals, who endured two seven-game losing streaks over the final month of the regular season, swept the Baltimore Orioles to advance to face the AL East champion New York Yankees. Game 1 is Saturday in the Bronx.
Detroit Tigers 5, Houston Astros 2
HOUSTON — Manager A.J. Hinch wanted his Detroit Tigers to embody their home city. Hard-working with a never-give-up attitude, but most of all a team that had grit.
That’s how they stormed into October — and just kept going.
Andy Ibáñez hit a tiebreaking three-run double in Detroit’s four-run eighth inning, and the Tigers swept the Houston Astros with a 5-2 victory in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday.
“Our city is built on grit,” a jubilant Hinch said in a prosecco-soaked clubhouse. “That’s what it is. I remember saying that I wanted to have a team that this city is proud of. I think the city is pretty proud of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and the fight that this team shows.”
Parker Meadows homered as Detroit ended Houston’s run of seven consecutive appearances in the AL Championship Series. It was a sweet moment for Hinch, who led Houston to a championship in 2017 and was fired in the aftermath of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
“This is what you play for,” he said. “Baseball’s great.”
Next up for the wild-card Tigers is a trip to Cleveland to take on the AL Central champions in a best-of-five AL Division Series. Game 1 is on Saturday.
“Regardless that nobody was rooting for us, regardless that nobody was putting us in the playoffs in a good spot, we didn’t care,” Ibáñez said. “We just put in hard work … to make the results come.”
Kerry Carpenter sparked Detroit’s eighth-inning rally with a one-out single off Ryan Pressly (0-1), who converted his first 14 postseason save opportunities. Carpenter advanced to third on a single by Matt Vierling and scored on a wild pitch, tying it at 2.
Pressly departed after Colt Keith reached on a two-out walk, and closer Josh Hader walked Spencer Torkelson to load the bases.
Hinch then sent Ibáñez up to hit for Zach McKinstry, and he lined a 1-2 sinker into the corner in left for a 5-2 lead.
Ibáñez hadn’t driven in a run since Sept. 10. He hit just .167 in September.
“He’s had a tough stretch,” Hinch said. “But his season restarts in October, and he’s showing that.”
Vierling, Keith and Torkelson jumped around and high-fived in celebration after scoring on Ibáñez’s clutch swing. Ibáñez raised his arms high above his head and smiled as he reached second.
Hader, who signed a $95 million, five-year contract with Houston in January, allowed three hits and walked two in 1 1/3 innings.
Detroit used seven different pitchers a day after pitching Triple Crown winner Tarik Skubal got the win in the series opener. Sean Guenther pitched 1 2/3 innings for the win in Game 2, and Will Vest handled the ninth for the save.
In the postseason for the first time since 2014, Detroit also got a solo home run from Meadows in the sixth to help the franchise to its first playoff series win since the 2013 ALDS.
Just making it to the playoffs seemed improbable before Detroit went 31-13 down the stretch in the regular season, helped along by the leadership of Hinch — who knows a little something about October success from his time with the Astros.
“They did everything right to win the series,” Houston second baseman Jose Altuve said.
Eight of the first nine Wild Card Series since they began in 2002 have been sweeps. It’s the fourth sweep in postseason history for the Tigers, who previously swept the AL Championship Series in 1984, 2006 and 2012.
The Astros jumped in front in the seventh, but they lost their seventh straight postseason game at home. Houston’s ALCS streak included four World Series appearances and two titles.
“It’s tough,” manager Joe Espada said. “But I want our guys to be proud of how far we’ve come. It was a very challenging season, and we reached the postseason — that’s our goal every year. We win the division, and then play deep into the playoffs. It didn’t happen for us this year, but I want our guys to be proud of their resiliency and how tough this season was.”
Kansas City Royals 2, Baltimore Orioles 1
BALTIMORE — Bobby Witt Jr. beat out an infield single to drive in the go-ahead run and send the Kansas City Royals into an AL Division Series with a 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday for a two-game sweep of their Wild Card Series.
With two outs and runners at the corners in sixth inning, Witt hit a grounder to the edge of the dirt behind second base, where Jordan Westburg made a diving stop and throw to first. Witt was already there after zooming 90 feet in 4.14 seconds, allowing Kyle Isbel to score from third.
“I just had to try to run,” Witt said.
It was the second consecutive game in which the AL batting champion provided the decisive hit. Witt’s RBI single in Tuesday’s series opener plated the only run in a 1-0 victory.
“You never know when this opportunity ever is going to happen again, so got to make the most of it while you have it,” Witt said. “That’s the fun part of this game. This is why we do it, these situations here.”
Kansas City, which endured two seven-game losing streaks over the final month of the season, advanced to face the AL East champion New York Yankees. Game 1 is Saturday in the Bronx.
Cedric Mullins homered for the Orioles, who fell to 0-5 during two quick playoff exits the past two years. Baltimore has dropped its last 10 postseason games.
The new-look Royals lost 106 games last season but used a 30-win improvement to get back to October for the first time since winning the 2015 World Series.
Second baseman Michael Massey, who led off the game with a double and scored on a single by Vinnie Pasquantino, said the front office bringing in experienced veterans with playoff experience like Tommy Pham, Yuli Gurriel, Michael Wacha and Will Smith made this possible.
“They’ve been there before, they’ve done it, so I think it’s helped a lot of guys,” Massey said. “It’s helped us, for sure me, to be around those guys and just watch them, more than anything, and see how they go about their business, has been — I think that’s helped us stay even keel.”
The Royals left 12 runners on base and got through another close game with a razor-thin margin for error thanks to some masterful managing by Matt Quatraro, himself a postseason rookie like Witt, Game 1 winner Cole Ragans and so many others.
Quatraro let starter Seth Lugo get an out after loading the bases with nobody out in the fifth before spinning up bullpen roulette, starting with winning pitcher Angel Zerpa, who got KC out of that jam and then got the first out of the sixth. John Schreiber got three more outs, Sam Long two, Kris Bubic three and Lucas Erceg the final three to earn his second save of the series.
“It’s so impressive that they believe in themselves and they trust their stuff and they just come after some of the best hitters in the world,” Quatraro said.
Cionel Pérez took the loss.
The Orioles were swept in their only playoff series for a second consecutive year, going 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position this time and 5 for 32 combined. They face numerous offseason questions, from the future of manager Brandon Hyde to the possibility of losing pending free-agent starter Corbin Burnes.
“Especially when you lose like this, there’s frustration, there’s anger, there’s disappointment because you felt like there was opportunities there in those couple games to change the score, and it didn’t happen,” Hyde said.
