Tigers hold off Orioles, move into third AL wild-card spot

BALTIMORE — This is what we all wanted, but never, in our most optimistic moment two months ago, dared to think was possible.

The Detroit Tigers are coming home for the final two series of the season at Comerica Park with a fighting chance to steal a wild-card spot.

With another rousing series win, holding on for a 4-3 victory over the Orioles on Sunday, the Tigers, pending the outcome of the second game of the doubleheader between the Twins and Red Sox, were holding the final wild-card position by a half-game.

In fact, the Royals and Tigers both have 82-74 records. The Twins were 81-74 heading into their nightcap in Boston. Three teams fighting for two wild-card spots.

"We're going to take it that same as we've taken all of them," manager AJ Hinch said. "We've worked our tails off to get the results we are getting. I'm proud of the effort but we still have a long way to go. We're going to stay grounded. 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."

Even though the Tigers do not hold the tie-breaker over the Royals or Twins, they come home for six games — three against Tampa beginning Tuesday and three against the White Sox — in control of their destiny.

"We've never really thought of it," said Kerry Carpenter, who powered the win Sunday with a pair of pull-side home runs. "We've just kept winning games. And that's what we will keep on doing now. We're not going to grasp at anything or chase anything. Just play like we can play. We've got a bunch of guys that can play baseball here and win games in the big leagues."

Carpenter's second home run of the game provided the margin of victory. His first one, which followed another spectacular home run theft by center fielder Parker Meadows, silenced a sell-out crowd of 44,040 at Camden Yards who came to party in the Orioles' final regular-season home game.

"Huge momentum swing," said rookie Jace Jung, who contributed a double and a couple of defensive gems of his own. "We had a pitching change and I said we just need one or two things to go our way and take the crowd out of it. That's what Parker literally did. And then Kerry hits the homer.

"It went dead silent. We had the lead back and they can't feed off the momentum of their fans anymore. We took them out of it."

The Tigers had hushed the crowd right out of the gate, too, when Spencer Torkelson hooked a first-pitch cutter inside the foul pole in left in the second inning, for his ninth homer. Jung and Trey Sweeney followed with back-to-back doubles and they were up 2-0 on Orioles’ right-hander Albert Suarez.

But the Orioles brought the crowd to its feet with a three-run burst off rookie right-hander Ty Madden in the fifth. Cedric Mullins launched a two-run homer to right field and Jordan Westburg, who was activated off the injured list before the game, doubled in the tying run.

Then with two outs and Westburg on third, Colton Cowser launched a pitch from lefty reliever Sean Guenther. The ball flew 397 feet to right-center. That ball, according to Statcast, is a home run in 14-of-30 ballparks, including Camden Yards.

It was about to be a 5-3 lead for the Orioles — except Meadows leaped and reached well beyond the wall and hauled it in, saving two runs.

"I knew that was close (to going out)," said Carpenter, who was tracking the ball from his right-field position. "It was in the middle of us and I was getting ready to jump at the wall. Then I saw Parker. He was locked in on that thing, so I was like, 'Let's go!' I'll back him up. He tends to come down with those more often than not."

It was very similar to the home-run robbery Meadows made on Cal Raleigh in Seattle in August.

"I probably made this one look a little tougher," Meadows said. "I hit the wall on the way up but I was able to secure it ... It's my job to do that. Knew he hit it high and I had to beat it to the spot. Carp did a good job of letting me know where the wall was and backing off and allowing me to make the play.

"To be able to do it right there, it was pretty cool."

Carpenter hit a Suarez changeup in the third inning. In the sixth, he clubbed Suarez's fastball. The second one, on the heels of Meadows' catch, proved to be a backbreaker for the Orioles.

"I've been confident for a couple of weeks now," said Carpenter, who had just one homer this month before Sunday. "There's been some tough stretches, some tough pitchers, balls not getting through. But I've been seeing the ball really well recently and today I felt pretty comfortable and got good pitches to hit and made them pay."

They were homers No. 16 and 17 for Carpenter.

"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. "Anyone who has been around our team has seen how dangerous he can be.

"You can't say you expect it to happen, but you aren't surprised when it does. He can be a difference-maker."

Fittingly, the Tigers' eclectic and stout bullpen, made that skinny lead hold up over the final four innings.

Right-hander Brenan Hanifee stranded a runner at third in the sixth. Jung made another excellent play, fielding a carom that hit off Hanifee’s leg and throwing out Ramon Urias.

Hanifee struck out Mullins to end the inning.

Right-hander Will Vest was summoned in the seventh after Hanifee walked Gunnar Henderson to lead off the inning. Vest struck out Anthony Santander and got Cowser on another long fly ball to center.

Vest set down five straight hitters and got the Tigers to the ninth with the one-run lead. Hinch, without hesitation, went back to Jason Foley, who had relinquished a two-run lead in the ninth on Saturday.

"It was really nice that AJ trusted me to get the last three outs after I scuffled a bit last night," said Foley, who pitched a clean ninth to earn his 26th save. "Just tried to dig in. Same approach, attack the zone and Parker started it with another nice snag in right-center. That set the tone."

Meadows ran down a liner by Ramon Urias for the first out in the ninth.

"He makes it look really graceful and easy and that's not an easy play," Hinch said. "He's tremendous out there and he makes it look much, much easier that it is."

When the Tigers boarded the flight home, they had the final wild-card spot. Maybe by the time they went to bed, it was a three-team scramble. Either way, they know the mission. It hasn't changed since the trade deadline. Just win Tuesday.

"We're vibing here," Meadows said. "There's such good chemistry on this team and we're having a lot of fun and we have each other's back ... We are going to keep doing our thing, keep doing our jobs and keep winning games."

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