The Detroit Tigers’ magical run in the 2024 season has officially come to an end.
They ended up losing to the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 on Saturday in Game 5 of the ALDS.
Starting the game for the Tigers was ace Tarik Skubal. He was able to shutout Cleveland over the first four innings; however, the offense couldn’t score any runs for themselves.
Kerry Carpenter was able to open the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the 5th inning. Cleveland tied the game in the bottom half after Jose Ramirez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The dagger came during the next at-bat as Lane Thomas would go on to hit a grand slam to put Cleveland up 5-1.
Tigers’ catcher Jake Rogers cut the lead to 5-2 in the top of the 6th inning with an RBI single. Colt Keith would get the Tigers one run closer with an RBI double in the top of the 7th inning.
That’s as close as the Tigers would get as Thomas would add another run for Cleveland in the bottom of the 7th inning before Brayan Rocchio capped off the scoring with an RBI single in the 8th inning.
With the win, Cleveland will face the New York Yankees in the ALCS. The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets will meet in the NLCS.
The Tigers made the playoffs after going on a 34-19 record over the last two months of the regular season. This helped them earn the final wildcard spot and a date in the wildcard series against the Houston Astros.
There they swept Houston in two games, winning 3-1 and 5-2 respectively. That earned them a date with Cleveland in the ALDS.
The Tigers won two of the first three games but lost Game 4 at home and Game 5 on the road.