Guardians rally for win to pull into first-place tie with Tigers

CLEVELAND — The Guardians have been chasing the Tigers since the first month of the regular season. They finally caught them Tuesday night at Progressive Field. Continuing its miraculous late-season playoff push, Cleveland beat reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and Detroit 5-2 in the opener of a pivotal three-game series that had a big crowd and a playoff atmosphere. The Guardians' 11th win in their last 12 games and 16th in their last 18 vaulted them into a first-place tie with Detroit. Cleveland is technically atop the division after clinching the season series 7-4 with two games to play. The Guardians trailed the Tigers by 15½ games on July 8. "You kind of have to believe, right? Maybe be a little delusional in a long season like that," Steven Kwan said. "I mean, anything's possible. You're never completely out of it and that's the beauty of baseball." There was also a loss when David Fry was hit in the face by a pitch and left the game in a medical cart during his team's decisive three-run sixth inning. "He stayed conscious the whole time," manager Stephen Vogt said. "(There's) definitely some injuries there." After being shut down by Skubal for five innings, the Guardians scored the go-ahead runs in bizarre fashion, failing to put a ball into the outfield yet scoring three times. Kwan led off with a bunt single and Angel Martinez followed with a bunt that Skubal fielded and threw between his legs over the head of first baseman Spencer Torkelson for an error. Jose Ramirez's infield single scored Kwan before a wild pitch plated Martinez with the tying run. Fry squared to bunt and was hit by Skubal, immediately dropping to the ground and covering his face. Skubal, who was visibly shaken, balked Ramirez to third and allowed the Guardians to go up 3-2 on Gabriel Arias' grounder to first. "His first five (innings) were pretty dominant, just putting it where he wanted," Kwan said of Skubal. "So, just try to mix it up a little bit, kind of get the defense moving around, just trying to get him off his normal cadence and just try to create the chaos." "Obviously we got a little bit of help with the error and the wild pitch, but Tarik Skubal is the best pitcher in the game and we're trying to find ways to put pressure on him," Vogt said. "That's why we work on our baserunning. That's why we work on our bunting Just all that whole inning was the things that we talk about, we preach, we work on, and the guys executed. Outstanding." Cleveland scored two more times in the seventh on pinch hitter Daniel Schneemann's two-out single. The Guardians entered the night tied with Houston for the AL's final wild card berth but owning the tiebreaker while trailing Boston by a game for the second wild card spot. Right-hander Gavin Williams continued the rotation's dominance, allowing two runs over six innings while matching a career high with 12 strikeouts.It was the 18th straight game — a franchise record — that a member of the starting staff has allowed two runs or fewer. Williams struck out four of the first six batters to send the crowd roaring, but the Tigers quieted it with consecutive doubles from Zach McKinstry and Wenceel Perez to start the third inning. The defense let Williams down on both two-base hits. Martinez misread McKinstry's drive to center field, allowing the ball to get over his head, while Kyle Manzardo failed to at least stop a hard grounder down the first-base line from Perez. Detroit threatened again in the fourth, loading the bases with one out on two walks and an infield single, but Williams struck out the final two batters to bring the crowd to its feet again. After striking out the first two batters in the sixth, Williams allowed a homer to All-Star Riley Greene, who lined an 0-1 pitch into the seats in right.Williams tied a career high with 12 strikeouts, while the Guardians tied a club record by striking out a season-high 19 batters. Manager A.J. Hinch's decision to move Skubal up and pitch on short rest paid off handsomely for a while. The left-hander walked two over the first two innings, but shut out Cleveland over the first four innings on one infield single from Martinez two batters into the bottom of the opening inning. Manzardo got the Guardians' second hit on a double down the left-field line and into the corner with one out in the fifth, but after walking Jhonkensy Noel, Skubal retired the next two. Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on X @CAwesomeheimer.