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    • The Tigers never stood a chance in a 7-0 win over the Guardians in ALDS Game 1
    Albany

    The Tigers never stood a chance in a 7-0 win over the Guardians in ALDS Game 1

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    CLEVELAND — Well, that got ugly quick.

    It’s hard to imagine a worse start for the Detroit Tigers against the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday afternoon in Game 1 of the ALDS at Progressive Field.

    Cleveland stunned the Tigers, its first five batters scoring in the first inning before the Tigers could even record an out, and then cruised to a 7-0 victory.

    Essentially, this game was a colossal failure for the Tigers – in every sense of the word.

    The Tigers struck out 13 times and got on base five times.

    Tigers opener Tyler Holton faced the first four batters without recording an out. Only 10 other pitchers have not recorded an out in the postseason, most recently Mike Clevinger in the 2022 NLCS.

    The Tigers have Sunday off and then play the Guardians on Monday (4:08 p.m., TBS) in Game 2, in which former Tigers left-hander Matthew Boyd plays for the Guardians against current Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal. will compete.

    Boyd was Skubal’s mentor in 2021 and 2023 when they were teammates on the Tigers.

    Game 3, the Tigers’ first home playoff game in a decade, is Wednesday afternoon (tickets can be found here).

    Here’s what stood out in Game 1:

    CITY RIVALRY: Detroit and Cleveland should hate each other. Maybe this MLB playoff series will help.

    A terrible beginning

    The Tigers came into this game with a specific strategy:

    • Look for an early lead before the Guardians have had a chance to get to their strong bullpen.
    • Try to limit the damage from José Ramírez, who has beaten the Tigers this season by hitting .347 (17 for 49) with five home runs, 12 RBIs and a 1.163 OPS.
    • Continue to play strong defense.
    • And be careful against Josh Naylor. Against the Tigers, he batted .300 (12 for 40), with three home runs and nine RBIs.

    But overall it was about getting off to a good start. “There is no doubt this is a high-end bullpen,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “You want to prevent them from taking the lead and then still having the opportunity to finish the game.”

    Things didn’t go well for the Tigers.

    In fact, it’s hard to imagine a worse start for the Tigers.

    The first thing to stall? Your bats.

    The Tigers had a chance to pull ahead in the first inning with a runner on second and Riley Greene at the plate. Bibee hit Greene and Colt Keith came up.

    Keith got a pitch to bat and hit it on a line to left field but right at the fielder.

    Then it got worse and worse and more terrible.

    In the bottom of the first inning, the Guardians put two hitters on with no outs and Ramirez came to the plate and faced Holton.

    Holton got what he wanted – a ground ball to third base.

    But Zach McKinstry couldn’t handle it – it was ruled an error – and the ball went down the left field line and a run was scored. The irony? McKinstry was in there because of his defense at that point.

    Here came Naylor, batting against a drawn-in infield and hitting a ball through the right side, and the Guardians had an early 2-0 lead.

    Before a single out.

    So Hinch pivoted quickly, tried to limit the damage, and went to Plan B: Reese Olson.

    But that didn’t work either.

    On the first pitch, Lane Thomas smashed a hanging slider to left, and before the Tigers could get an out, the Guardians had a 5-0 lead.

    Required reading: The Tigers’ epic run isn’t a flash in the pan: The organization is set up for long-term success

    Double (game) trouble

    The Tigers had many chances.

    But some felt bigger than others.

    In the fourth, Spencer Torkelson had guys on first and second and no outs. And he promptly managed a double play.

    Early in the fifth, Kerry Carpenter batted with a man on first and two outs. Cleveland turned to reliever Cade Smith, who promptly eliminated Carpenter in three throws.

    Postseason pitching debuts

    After that one bad pitch against Thomas, Olson calmed down. He threw long enough to keep the Tigers in the game, relatively speaking. And he stayed in long enough to save part of the Tigers’ bullpen.

    At this time of year, every inning is important, even if Sunday is off.

    Although this was the Tigers’ third postseason game, it still marked the debut for Ty Madden, a rookie.

    He threw a pitch in the sixth inning and quickly found himself in trouble. The Guardians drew two walks and with two outs, David Fry doubled down the line to left, resulting in a 7-0 loss.

    It was also the postseason debut for Keider Montero, who was not on the roster against Houston. But Montero was solid, striking out three in two innings.

    READ MORE: Tigers set playoff squad against Guardians: Casey Mize has been left out of the squad

    The Guardians’ dominant bullpen

    Bibee opened the game for Cleveland with 4⅔ innings and six strikeouts.

    But then the Guardians turned to their No. 1 bullpen.

    Cade Smith went 1⅓ scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

    Tim Herrin, a left-hander, pitched one inning and struck out two.

    Hunter Gaddis was scoreless in the inning.

    And Tim Herrin finished the game.

    “I have to assume we will see a lot of (Emmanuel) Clase, a lot of Gaddis, a lot of Heron and a lot of Smith,” Hinch said before the game.

    And that’s exactly what they achieved.

    In non-stressful situations.

    Contact Jeff Seidel: [email protected]. Follow him on X @seideljeff. To read his latest columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.

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    Madoc Meredith
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