Tigers top Guardians 3-0, advancing to brink of ALCS with series lead

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The Detroit Tigers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 Wednesday, advancing to the brink of the American League Championship Series, taking a 2-1 leading the best-of-five series.

Reliever Tyler Horton slammed the door on Cleveland in the bottom of the ninth, with a 1-2-3 inning to cinch the win.

In the Tigers' first home playoff game since 2014, Comerica Park was electric with nearly 45,000 fans packed into the seats for game three of the American League Divisional Series. And the Tigers gave the hometown faithful something to cheer about early.

The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as they got to Guardians' pitcher Alex Cobb. Austin Meadows singled to lead off the game and two hitters later, Riley Greene drove him home from second to stake the Tigers to the early lead.

As manager A.J. Hinch employed his now typical plan for starting pitchers – one pitcher for an opener and then the bullpen for multiple innings at a time – the offense kept it moving. In the bottom of the third, Matt Vierling hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Jake Rogers to bring the score to 2-0.

The Tigers opened with Keider Montero in the first inning. He faced three hitters on just six pitches. But Hinch's plan would not be changed as he went to Brant Hurter for the second, third, and fourth innings. He allowed five hits and one walk but zero runs before heading over to Beau Brieske in the fifth – who promptly cut down five straight Guardian hitters.

In the sixth inning, first baseman Spencer Torkelson picked a great time for his first career playoff hit, as he doubled Colt Keith home from second to make it 3-0.

Vierling made a highlight reel jumping catch to for the third out in the seventh when the Guardians' David Fry hit a liner with runners at first and second base.  Vierling robbed Fry on the line drive, ending the threat.

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.

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.

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.

The Guardians had a chance to score in the third. Steven 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 biggest Tigers crowd ever – 44,885 – watched as the Tigers beat the Guardians one hit at a time.

--The Associated Press contributed to this report.