Detroit entered the game with a Magic Number of 1. With a win, they were in.
I saw something posted online earlier today, and I’ll paraphrase: “If you’d have told me in the spring that the Tigers would be starting Brenan Hanifee on a night where they could clinch a playoff spot, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Well, here we are. The last playoff game featuring the Tigers was in 2014, and the last time they even sniffed a postseason berth was in 2016. But in 2024, after being sellers at the trade deadline, after putting together the world’s most unorthodox pitching strategy, after having a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs in early August… again, here we are. Win and you’re in.
Over 44,000 people packed Comerica Park on a perfect Friday night and watched the Tigers beat the White Sox by a 4-1 score. A wild card was, improbably, theirs… after being eight games under .500 well into August.
Hanifee did indeed get the start, his third such “opener” gig on the season. Most of his outings so far this season have been around the sixth and seventh inning, often going a couple of innings. He features a sinker and a four-seamer that can get up into the high 90s. But the majority of the innings tonight were slated for Brant Hurter, who has consistently gone five or so innings whether in a starting or a bulk-guy role and has generally been very good in either.
Earlier this week, White Sox manager Grady Sizemore made it clear he was going to rearrange his starting rotation so lefty Garrett Crochet would start the series opener in Detroit. It’s been a Tale of Two Pitchers: before the All-Star Break he had a 3.02 ERA and a sterling 0.950 WHIP; after it, it’s been a 5.71 ERA and a lousy 1.414 WHIP. The White Sox are limiting his innings in the second half of the season too, so he wasn’t going to go very far in this one.
Hanifee started and threw two scoreless innings, giving up a double in the first which would’ve been a triple if a fan along the right-field line hadn’t touched it; Hurter started the third. Crochet had some good-looking stuff to start the game as well, touching 99 mph on his four-seamer.
The Tigers’ first real threat took form in the fourth: Riley Greene singled and Wenceel Pérez reached on an error with two outs, putting runners on first and second. Spencer Torkelson walked to load the bases, but Trey Sweeney grounded out to shortstop on a very close play.
Crochet left after the fourth, fellow lefty Jared Shuster was brought in, and with a walk-single-walk sequence, the bases were loaded with no outs. A passed ball scored Jake Rogers from third, and a Matt Vierling sacrifice fly scored another to make it 2-0.
That sacrifice fly moved Andy Ibáñez up to third with one out, but unfortunately, Greene and Justyn-Henry Malloy both struck out to strand Ibáñez.
Meanwhile, Hurter kept on a-rollin’, mowing through the White Sox until Zach DeLoach — and if you think of this guy when you hear or read his name, you’re not alone — hit his first career home run with two out in the sixth to cut the lead to 2-1.
Will Vest took over for Hurter to start the seventh and he was his normal lights-out self. What a guy, that Will Vest.
With one out in the seventh, Ibáñez hit a deep fly ball to center which fell in; it was bobbled by Dominic Fletcher, and when all was said and done, Ibáñez was standing on third. Vierling was intentionally walked (on a 3-1 count; very weird) to bring Greene to the plate with runners on the corners; he crushed a deep double off the wall in straightaway centre to score Ibáñez for a 3-1 lead.
A wild pitch was spiked into the dirt, bounced off the catcher’s mask and into the White Sox dugout; Vierling scored, Greene went to third, and it was a 4-1 game. Reliever Fraser Ellard’s control issues continued as Malloy walked to put runners on the corners, still with one out, but Pérez popped out and Torkelson’s line-drive scorcher to third was caught for the third retired batsman of the frame.
Vest stuck around to face a pair of righties in the eighth and he struck them both out, turning things over to the one-and-only Tyler Holton who struck out Fletcher looking for the third out.
Holton started the ninth and walked light-hitting Miguel Vargas on four pitches. He induced a grounder to shortstop to force Vargas at second, then did it again to force out DeLoach at second.
Two outs. Ninth inning. The playoff berth is so close you can taste it.
It’s been a long, long time, Tiger fans. You’ve suffered through rebuilds. You’ve seen lots of wretched plays in the field. You’ve felt the breeze as yet another batter flailed helplessly and struck out.
Jason Foley was brought in. On the second pitch, Andrew Vaughn lifted a fly ball to right; Parker Meadows and Pérez collided, but Pérez hung on to the ball for the third out.
The Tigers are in the playoffs.
Bless you, boys.
Box Score: Tigers 4, White Sox 1
Notes and Such
- Did you know Andy Ibáñez and Kenta Maeda are the only Tigers on the active roster who are over 30? I didn’t. But now I do, and so do you, too.
- I’ve been reading a lot of kids’ books lately. Can you tell?
- Apparently Tiger shortstop Trey Sweeney is a cousin of actor Sydney Sweeney, who was in attendance at the stadium tonight.
- Something something, White Sox 121 losses, something something.
- Happy 81st birthday to musician and radio host Randy Bachman. You may know him best from his work with the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but if you listened to CBC Radio on Saturday nights for a whole lot of years, you heard him host Randy’s Vinyl Tap. His depth of knowledge about rock music, the people he’s known over the years… what a great show. He compiled some of those stories in a fantastic book a few years ago; can recommend.