DETROIT (AP) — Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each drove in a run, and six pitchers combined to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 win over Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday and a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series.

The Tigers, baseball’s hottest team the past two months, will have their first chance to advance in the playoffs since 2013 on Thursday night in Game 4 at Comerica Park.

“We’re human,” Torkelson said. “We know how close we are.”

Cleveland has gone 20 straight innings without scoring since opening the series with a five-run first and a two-run sixth in its 7-0 win. Steven Kwan had three of its six hits in Game 3.

“Short sample size, obviously in the playoffs it’s a lot more magnified,” David Fry said after going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, contributing to the team’s eight runners left on base. “I think guys have hit balls hard. Balls aren’t really falling.”

After AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal helped Detroit shut out Cleveland in Game 2, manager A.J. Hinch put a stream of pitchers on the mound and kept the Guardians quiet at the plate.

Detroit reliever Will Vest entered with two on and two outs in the seventh, and Fry lined to a leaping Matt Vierling at third.

“He likes to pull the ball a lot, so I was ready for anything that came my way,” Vierling said. “I didn’t have time to think. I just had to react.”

Fans were fired up all day, chanting “Let’s go Tigers!” before the first playoff pitch in Detroit since 2014, and 44,885 were in the stands for the largest crowd in Comerica Park’s 25-year history.

“This is a huge victory for us, just to see the stadium and the whole city come out for the first playoff game in a decade,” Vierling said.

Right-hander Keider Montero retired the side in order in the first, and the previously slumping Greene hit a two-out RBI single in the home half.

Brant Hurter gave up five hits in 3 1/3 innings. Beau Brieske pitched two innings and Sean Guenther got one out. Vest threw 1 1/3 innings before Tyler Holton handled the ninth.

“Nothing that happened caught us off guard,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We were prepared for all of it.”

It’s the first time Detroit has recorded two shutouts in a postseason series. It’s also the first time since the 1905 World Series that the first three games of a postseason series all were shutouts.

The Guardians had a chance to score in the third. Kwan reached on a one-out infield single and advanced on shortstop Tyler Sweeney’s throwing error. José Ramírez was intentionally walked with two outs, but Josh Naylor hit an inning-ending groundout.

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the third after No. 9 hitter Jake Rogers led off with a double, advanced to third on Parker Meadows’ grounder and scored on Vierling’s sacrifice fly.

Cleveland’s pitchers did enough to keep the AL Central champions in the game, but the lack of offense made it moot.

The Guardians went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

“I thought we did a great job setting the table,” Vogt said. “We just weren’t able to come up with a big hit.”

The Guardians gave righty Alex Cobb the start for his first appearance since Sept. 1. He gave up two runs and three hits in three innings.

Eli Morgan gave up Torkelson’s RBI double in the sixth. The slugger had been 0 for 14 with nine strikeouts in the postseason.

“In the playoffs you don’t get caught up in the numbers, you’re just trying to win and we’re doing that,” Torkelson said. “It felt pretty good to come through there.”

Up next: Cleveland RHP Tanner Bibee is scheduled to start Game 4 while Detroit likely will wait until Thursday to announce who will open on the mound as the first of at least a handful of pitchers it will plan to play.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Kerry Carpenter homered twice, Parker Meadows made a home run-saving grab and the surging Detroit Tigers gained ground in the American League wild card race with a 4-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

Carpenter’s third multi-home run game of the season ensured the Tigers their first winning season since 2016 as Detroit (82-74) matched Kansas City (82-74) and moved a half-game in front of Minnesota (81-74) for the final AL wild card spot.

“We still have a long way to go, so we’re going to stay grounded,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “But both things can happen — we can be proud of what we’re doing and we can stay grounded and look forward to the next series.”

The Twins, who won the season series 7-6 with the Tigers, have the second game of their doubleheader in Boston later Sunday. The Twins would finish ahead of the Tigers if they finish with the same record.

The Tigers have won 11 of their last 14.

Baltimore (86-70) lost its fifth consecutive series and fell 5 1/2 games behind New York (91-64) in the AL East race with six to play but is still four games ahead of Kansas City and Detroit for the top wild card spot.

“We had a great chance to win last night, didn’t get it done,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “We had a chance today also. I thought we just had some unfortunate breaks today.”

Spencer Torkelson homered off Orioles right-hander Albert Suarez (8-7) and Trey Sweeney contributed an RBI double as the Tigers took a 2-0 lead.

Carpenter hit the first of his two homers in the third to make it 3-0.

Cedric Mullins connected with a two-run shot for Baltimore. Jordan Westburg added an RBI double in his first game since July 31 (right wrist fracture) to complete a three-run fifth and tie things up at 3-3.

The damage would’ve been greater without Meadows’ leaping grab over the wall in right-center to deny Colton Cowser a two-run homer off Sean Guenther (2-0) and end the inning.

“I was getting ready to jump at the wall,” said Carpenter, who was in right field with Meadows in center. “And then I saw him. He was locked on that thing.”

Carpenter led off the sixth with his second deep shot and 17th of the season, which cleared the front of the grounds crew shed in right by a few feet.

“It’s huge,” Carpenter said. “They could’ve taken a two-run lead and then two minutes later I hit the homer and we’re up by one. So it changes the entire game.”

From there, Brenan Hanifee and Will Vest bridged the gap to Jason Foley, who worked a perfect ninth for his 26th save.

Trainer’s room

Tigers: INF Colt Keith (right shoulder) made his first defensive start since Tuesday, playing second base. … Hanifee took Ramon Urías’ sixth-inning liner off the left thigh but remained in the game.

Orioles: Reinstated Westburg and Urías (right ankle sprain) from the 10-day injured list and optioned OF Daniel Johnson and INF Livan Soto to Triple-A Norfolk.

Up next

Tigers: Will return to using a conventional starter to begin a home series against Tampa Bay on Tuesday when AL Cy Young contender Tarik Skubal (17-4, 2.48 ERA) makes his 31st start.

Orioles: Dean Kremer (7-10, 4.19) will try to complete six-plus innings for a fourth consecutive start to open Tuesday’s series at the New York Yankees.

By Ian Nicholas Quillen, Associated Press

A new documentary from the ESPN series E:60 called “28 Outs: An Imperfect Story” is revisiting Detroit Tigers Pitcher Armando Galarraga’s near-perfect game.  

On June 2, 2010, Galarraga was pitching for the Tigers against Cleveland. Galarraga started the season with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens and was called up to Detroit the day before. One out away from a perfect game, a blown call created a very different moment.

To help us revisit the game, Cody Stavenhagen joins The Metro. Stavenhagen is a staff writer covering the Tigers and Major League Baseball for The Athletic. 

University of New Mexico Professor Larry Jones also joins the show. He taught a Law and Society class at Monmouth University in 2021 that took a deep dive into the game. At the end of the semester, the class submitted an 80 page document to the MLB, making the case to give Galarraga a perfect game.

More headlines from The Metro on August 26: 

• The new owners of Florian East Chris Burtley and Shang Kong join the show. The brewery wants to immerse itself in the culture of Hamtramck. Florian East will serve coffee and non-alcoholic beverages during weekend mornings, screen soccer games and host food pop-ups.
• International Overdose Awareness Day is Aug. 31. Dr. Andy King is the medical director for the Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center and the director of the Tolan Park Research Clinic. He joins the show to help us better understand addiction and treatment.
• There’s been many studies on hallucinogenic drugs and their potential benefits to treat mental health disorders. Dr. Cassius Drake is the founder of The Drake Center for Transformative Healing in Franklin, Michigan. He joins the show to discuss how ketamine, administered in a medical setting, is helping some people treat depression, anxiety and PTSD.