Detroit Tigers matchups vs Cleveland Guardians pitchers in AL Central
On “Days of Roar,” Cleveland Guardians beat writer Paul Hoynes breaks down the starting pitchers vs. the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central showdown.
CLEVELAND, OH − You ever watch a building implosion?
After the explosives go off and the foundation has been weakened, a cloud of debris spits out the sides and the middle collapses, pulling the walls inward and the building falls straight down.
Right where it once stood.
That’s what the Detroit Tigers look like right now – they are in the midst of a maddening, frustrating collapse after crumbling to the Cleveland Guardians, 5-2, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, in the first of three games at Progressive Field.
The foundation has been rocked – the Tigers’ once massive, comfortable, double-digit lead in the American League Central has disappeared. The Tigers (85-72) and Guardians (85-72) now hold the same record with five games remaining in the 2025 season — but the Guardians have clinched the season series, grabbing the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The roof has fallen and the debris is everywhere – the Tigers have lost seven straight games, 11 of their last 12.
“A lot of things are piling up on us, obviously,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re having to wear it because this is our reality.”
Technically, the Tigers still have a chance at the postseason: If the season ended today, they would be a wild-card team.
Technically, they can still win the Central, if the Guardians start losing and the Tigers find a way to rip off some wins. But right now, the Guardians are showing no signs of slowing down. This was their 16th win in their last 18 games.
And the Tigers are showing no signs of getting out of this.
“We definitely feel some of the pressure and we have to mitigate it,” catcher Dillon Dingler said. “We’ve got to eliminate it.”
Losing a must-win game
Here’s the crazy part about this night.
Midway through this game, it looked like the Tigers were positioned perfectly to win a must-win game. They had a 2-0 lead after a Riley Greene homer. And they had Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, on the mound.
That sounds like a sure win. But the craziest inning you will ever see − two bunts, an error, a swinging base hit, a wild pitch and a balk – flipped this game inside out. And it was like watching a baseball team unravel in real time.
In many ways, it was symbolic of this season.
A comfortable lead disappeared, and the Guardians refused to lose.
It all started when Steven Kwan opened the sixth inning with a bunt. Dingler pounced from behind the plate and got to the ball, but couldn’t find the handle, so he didn’t throw to first.
Angel Martinez hit a sacrifice bunt that Skubal tried to cover. He ended up grabbing the ball between his legs and looked like he tried to long snap it to first. It went over Spencer Torkelson’s head and the runners ended up on second and third.
“He was in a tough position as a left-handed pitcher to make that play,” Hinch said. “He chose to do the emergency flip, which is not something that is easy to do, and it obviously didn’t produce a good play.
“So that is an example of an uncharacteristic mistake piling up on us at the worst time.”
The small ball continued – quite unintentionally – when Ramirez hit a dribbler to third. Zach McKinstry came charging in and fielded it, but he had no play.
Finally, the craziness continued when Skubal was pitching to David Fry, who turned to bunt. The ball appeared to deflect off his bat and hit him in the face.
Fry collapsed to the dirt, holding his face. Skubal was clearly upset and concerned, dropping his glove and walked behind the mound, his hand on his face.
Fry was helped off the field and onto a cart, as a trainer held a towel to his face.
“I’ve already reached out to him,” Skubal said. “There’s things that are bigger than the game, and his health is more important than a baseball game.”
A Skubal wild pitch scored a run, tying the game. Then, just when you thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse, it did.
Skubal was called for a balk and Martinez ended up on third. That was huge because Gabriel hit a soft grounder to first, which scored Martinez, giving Cleveland the lead.
“We’re doing a lot of uncharacteristic things, and it’s hurting us,” Hinch said.
What now?
If it were just that inning it would be one thing, but you wanna know the most alarming stat of the night? The Tigers had a complete lack of plate discipline, striking out 19 times against the Guardians.
“They won the strike zone on both sides tonight,” Hinch said.
Now, the Tigers have put themselves into serious trouble and they have nobody to blame but themselves. The pressure and frustration continues to build and it is obvious. After Spencer Torkelson struck out to end the eighth, he slammed his bat to the dirt and ripped off his helmet in disgust.
“We have to get to tomorrow and get to a better result,” Hinch said. “Everybody knows, there’s no hiding behind anything other than showing up ready to play. So right now, we want just good outcomes. And a good outcome would be a complete game for us.”
True. That’s the start.
Any building can be raised again. A new foundation can be built. But this team is running out of time.
And on this night, when this loud, intense crowd was celebrating another win, and everything was coming so easy to the Guardians, you got the sense they were concerned about only one thing.
Putting the champagne on ice.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
