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The Cleveland Guardians lost by a score of 3-0 for the second game in a row against the Detroit Tigers, falling down 2-1 in the ALDS, and as Detroit threw a bunch of bullpen arms at Cleveland, manager Stephen Vogt made it clear that his team was prepared for what it was going up against.
“Nothing that happened caught us off guard,” Stephen Vogt said, via ESPN. “We were prepared for all of it.”
Brand Hurter started the game for the Tigers, and threw 3.1 innings, while Beau Brieske pitched two innings and Sean Guenther came in for one out. Will Vest went for 1.1 innings before Tyler Holton closed things out in the ninth inning to secure the win for Detroit.
The Guardians recorded six hits in the game, but were not able to get any runs across with their chances to score. Being held scoreless in Game 2 was understandable, given that Cleveland was going up against the presumptive Cy Young winner in Tarik Skubal, the clear best pitcher in baseball this year. Emmanuel Clase gave up the lead in the 9th inning, surrendering a three-run home run to Kerry Carpenter. From that standpoint, it was disappointing that the Guardians could not take advantage of the Tigers' bullpen once Skubal left the game.
It has been two poor showings for the Guardians on offense, getting shut out two games in a row. The offense will have to show up on Thursday in Game 4, otherwise, they will be going home.
Guardians look to rebound in must-win Game 4
The Guardians will turn to Tanner Bibee for Game 4 on Thursday in Detroit, while the Tigers will go with their usual “pitching chaos” plan on a day in which Skubal is not getting the ball. The Guardians seemingly have the pitching advantage, but the Tigers' staff has been effective for this whole run. It remains to be seen if Detroit's plan is sustainable for a deep run, and it will be tested again in Game 4.
The hard part to swallow for the Guardians is that even if they do win Game 4 to force a Game 5 back home in Cleveland on Saturday, they will have to beat Skubal. If it reaches that point, the Guardians might have to match scoreless innings until Skubal has to leave the game. Regardless, Cleveland is not thinking about that as of right now, as the team has to force a Game 5 with a win on the road on Thursday.
