Detroit Tigers show that anything is possible in the fight for the playoffs

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Another night, another dramatic, exhausting, astonishing, bordering on divine victory.

In the Detroit Tigers' 7-6 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday, it was a rookie at second base who revived his team's hopes with a huge hit. There was another rookie, this one an unknown switch hitter fresh off an oblique injury, who stepped in as a pinch hitter from his weaker side and delivered the game's biggest hit. And then there was the emerging power of the bullpen, a 27th-round MLB draft pick who had just made two consecutive starts as an opener and was now throwing the hardest pitch of his life to get out of a daunting situation.

After all the runs had been scored, the team dugout was cheering loudly and the celebrations had begun, the team's maestro manager stood in the office and shook his head.

“So many twists and turns in this game,” joked AJ Hinch. “Please don't ask me to explain it all to you.”

The Tigers were down 4-0 in the third inning when Reese Olson, in his first game back from the injured list, threw a curveball that played into the hands of the monster Bobby Witt Jr. Witt's grand slam gave the Royals an advantage that teams with weak hitters like the Tigers shouldn't overcome, and that good teams with good pitchers like Seth Lugo shouldn't give up.

Instead, Detroit's lineup got slow but sure. Parker Meadows used his blessed legs to score on a single off Matt Vierling, a do-it-all hitter who was somehow overshadowed by all the other exciting moments of the evening. Then, with Vierling on base, second baseman Colt Keith benched his fastball after two previous dismal at-bats against Lugo. Instead, he got a changeup in the zone, stayed back and scored. His ball rose and flew 406 feet, making it 4-3 in the fifth inning.

“I don't think anyone thought we were out,” Keith said later. “Just the way we swung the bat allowed us to score runs and get the job done.”

Perhaps the game's biggest turning point came in the sixth inning, when two Tigers singled. With left-hander Kerry Carpenter facing left-handed pitcher Sam Long, Hinch played the best card he had left on the bench. Switch hitter Wenceel Pérez presented Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro with a dilemma. Kansas City had a right-hander in the warm-up, but Pérez has more power from the left side. Long handles right-handed hitters well, and Pérez's .663 OPS as a right-hander didn't exactly intimidate him.

Still, Hinch felt he had the power here, forcing Quatraro to choose between two matchups. Pérez had only pitched three times as a right-handed pinch hitter all season and was 0-for-2 with one walk. He had also just missed a month with an oblique injury and had hit just 1-for-9 in four games since returning. Pérez strode to the plate not knowing which side he would bat from. Seconds later, he was running for first base after hitting a double down the left field line. Both runners scored. The score was tied.

“Just one of maybe 20 big at-bats we had in this game,” Keith said.

Then it was Vierling who, with a calmer execution, scored a single goal past Pérez to take the lead.

If any player embodies the spirit of the Tigers' come-from-nowhere playoff chase, it's Pérez. The 24-year-old from the Dominican Republic has played over six seasons in the minor leagues. He was not projected to make the roster when he entered spring training. He developed a sort of yips while making throws from second base and moved to the outfield. By mid-summer, he was in the middle of Detroit's batting order. After the biggest hit of his young career, he spent the postgame moments nibbling on his food and scrolling on his phone like it was a normal evening.

“When he comes back (from the IL), everything about our team will have changed,” Hinch said. “He hasn't changed. He hasn't missed anything. … He'll be the same tomorrow. He'll probably come off the bench and be ready for anything, and I know he'll be calm in that moment.”

Just as the Tigers were beginning their comeback, the Minnesota Twins, their division rivals, blew a game against the Cleveland Guardians. Tigers players couldn't help but glance at the away team's scoreboard as the Guardians left the bases loaded late in the game, but then came back and won anyway.

“I’ve been guilty at least 50 times,” Keith said.

The news meant the Tigers would be just 1 1/2 games behind Minnesota in the playoff race – 2 1/2 if you include the Twins' tiebreaker advantage.

But before the Tigers could celebrate, there was more work to be done, more unknown and unsung bullpen heroes had to step up. Sean Guenther, Brenan Hanifee and Will Vest got the Tigers through the seventh inning. In the eighth inning, right-hander Beau Brieske, who just two days earlier became the first Tiger since 1929 to start two games on back-to-back days as part of Detroit's strange pitching construct, came into the game but immediately conceded a single and a walk. Pitching coach Chris Fetter visited the mound. Then Brieske got MJ Melendez into a two-strike count. Brieske's first and second pitch was a 99.5 mph fastball – almost a full mile per hour faster than his previous career high – that whizzed past Melendez's bat.

“You either shut up or you shut up,” Brieske said later, adrenaline still coursing through the air. “I tried to throw the ball as hard as I could, that's for sure.”

Brieske got the following batter, Maikel García, to hit a 4-6-3 double play that Spencer Torkelson blocked by deflecting a bounced throw to first base. The Tigers backed off the field, but briefly feared the play might be reviewed. The verdict was final, and the dugout erupted into cheers.

With two outs in the ninth inning of a one-run game — after the Tigers had squandered a chance to score another run when Torkelson was out at third base, the result of a late stop-and-point rather than a timely stop signal from third-base coach Joey Cora — Jason Foley struck out Tommy Pham with a vicious full-count sinker, keeping the powerful Witt on the board and the Tigers' latest win in a run that feels increasingly littered with intimations of doom.

“That was one of the best games we've played as a team all year,” Keith said. “To come back like that as a team was great. It took pitching and hitting. It was really fun.”

Let's be rational for a moment. There are 11 games to play. Many more are needed. A litany of tricky decisions and decisive moments still lie ahead.

But the Tigers just tied last season's team for the franchise's most wins (78) since 2016.

Forgive anyone who forgot. Detroit, this is what meaningful baseball looks like.

(Top photo: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)