(Cleveland) Lane Thomas hit a grand slam off ace Tarik Skubal and the Cleveland Guardians eliminated the Detroit Tigers with a 7-3 victory on Saturday.
Posted at 5:12 p.m.
The Guardians won this fifth and final game to set the table for another playoff meeting against the New York Yankees. The two clubs have faced each other in October six times and the last was in 2022.
The American championship series featuring the two teams will begin Monday in the Bronx.
Thomas produced five points for the Guardians, who were not expected to be title contenders this season. They still won the Central section under the tutelage of first-year manager Stephen Vogt and they are still in the race to curb their drought without winning the World Series, which has lasted since 1948.
The Guardians had to beat Skubal, the favorite to win the American Cy Young award, to continue their journey. The left-hander had not allowed a run in his last 24 innings on the mound – including 17 in the playoffs – before allowing five runs in the fifth inning.
The Guardians accomplished the feat by hitting three singles to fill the bases before Skubal hit José Ramirez on the left hand, which created the tie 1-1.
Thomas, who hit a long three-run ball in the Guardians’ 7-0 victory in the series opener, hit a long homer over the left-center field fence on Skubal’s first pitch against him. .
When the ball reached the spectators, the Guardians’ dugout emptied and the crowd at Progressive Field celebrated loudly. Vogt then trusted his replacement, the best in Major League Baseball this season, but she experienced some difficulties.
After Thomas’ grand slam, the Tigers threatened in the sixth inning. They scored a run on Jake Rogers’ single and loaded the bases with two outs. Hunter Gaddis, however, struck out Kerry Carpenter.
The Detroit troop reduced the gap to 5-3 after a double from Colt Keith in the seventh inning, but reliever Eli Morgan stopped the threat with two strikeouts.
Thomas hit a one-run single in the eighth inning to give the Guardians a three-run lead. Vogt then handed the ball to his star stopper, Emmanuel Clase, the American’s leader in saves.
Sending balls at 100 miles per hour, Clase recorded the final six outs of the match to lift the Guardians to the American’s championship series for the first time since 2016.
