Late in a season with moderate expectations, a timely surge, coupled with nosedives by other American League wild-card contenders, has put the Detroit Tigers in control of their postseason destiny.
The Tigers enter a season-ending, six-game homestand tied for the second wild-card spot with the Kansas City Royals and will face the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday with a one-game lead over the Minnesota Twins, who are just outside of the wild-card field.
The Tigers (82-74) even have an outside shot at catching the Baltimore Orioles, who lead the wild-card chase by four games. Detroit had a productive visit to Baltimore over the weekend, winning two of three games.
The Tigers, who were nine games under .500 at 39-48 after a 12-3 loss to the Twins on July 4, have won 11 of their last 14 games.
“We’ve worked our tails off to get the results we are getting,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I’m proud of the effort but we still have a long way to go. We’re going to stay grounded. … We can be proud of what we’re doing, and we can stay grounded and look forward to the next series.”
Their recent victories haven’t come easy. The Tigers’ last seven wins, going back to Sept. 13, have been decided by two runs or fewer, including two in extra innings.
The series at Baltimore concluded with a 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon when Kerry Carpenter hit a pair of home runs and Hinch used six pitchers to get 27 outs.
“I don’t know if you could expect a two-homer game, but you can expect him to be super dangerous and give us a chance to change the scoreboard,” Hinch said of Carpenter. “Anyone who has been around our team has seen how dangerous he can be.”
Tigers center fielder Parker Meadows robbed Colton Cowser of a two-run homer.
“There’s such good chemistry on this team and we’re having a lot of fun and we have each other’s back,” Meadows said.
Tigers ace Tarik Skubal (17-4, 2.48 ERA) will start the series opener against the Rays. Skubal has five wins and three no-decisions in his last eight starts. He’s 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA in four career starts against Tampa Bay.
The Rays are expected to send right-hander Ryan Pepiot (8-6, 3.64 ERA) to the mound coming off a dominant performance against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday. He gave up one run and two hits while recording a career-best 12 strikeouts in six innings. Pepiot has no decisions and a 1.50 ERA in two career appearances against Detroit.
Tampa Bay (78-78) has not been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, thanks to a four-game winning streak.
The Rays swept a weekend series from the Toronto Blue Jays, with each game decided by one run. First baseman Jonathan Aranda hit home runs in all three games.
“Definitely not the year that anybody wanted or anybody had hoped for,” Rays infielder Brandon Lowe said. “But to be at this point in the season, to have a great homestand, to go out on the road and play against a team that’s been playing incredible baseball as well, it does a lot to still be playing for something. There’s still that opportunity. The door is still open.”
