In the New Testament, a carpenter from Nazareth saved his followers from damnation and promised them eternal life in his kingdom. In the ALDS, a Carpenter from Florida saved the Tigers from a potential 0-2 series hole and promised them at least two more days of playoff baseball. The latter was more exciting; Jesus probably couldn't even make contact off Emmanuel Clase, while Kerry Carpenter uppercutted a two-strike slider deep into the right-field seats to break a scoreless tie in the ninth inning and deliver Detroit a 3-0 victory on Monday.
Especially after a decade without playoff baseball, Carpenter's dramatic dong will live on in fan memories. But no less important was the work involved in keeping Cleveland off the scoreboard. While Guardians starter Matt Boyd only lasted 4.2 innings of scattered baserunners before Stephen Vogt turned to his shutdown 'pen, Tigers throwback ace Tarik Skubal delivered seven dominant frames. Skubal, more than any ace still left in the playoffs, makes his team feel invincible for as long as he is on the mound, even when Tiger bats have you sympathizing with the Phillies fans who ignorantly booed Nick Castellanos on Sunday. Skubal insulated Tiger hitters from their own ineptitude, but everyone's unhittable until they ain't—ask Clase. Even Skubal needed a little help from his infield.
Until the fifth, Skubal was completely clean. But Josh Naylor fought him hard and drove a ball into an outfield gap for a one-out double. The next batter, Jhonkensy Noel, took a 97-mph pitch to the hand. Skubal was in real trouble at long last. And it took only one pitch for him to escape, getting Andrés Giménez to ground to Andy Ibáñez at second, who calmly kicked off the 4-6-3 double play.
With every inning that passed, the potential for one mistake to carry the day became more likely, Skubal again looked just barely mortal in the sixth as he surrendered a one-out double to Brayan Rocchio and then a pokey hit to pokey-hit-merchant Steven Kwan to put runners at the corners with David Fry up. Fry swung and missed at a change, let another one go by for a 1-1 count, then just barely connected with a low and in fastball to chop weakly to short. It could have been enough to score a run. But Trey Sweeney charged and hot-potatoed the ball to Colt Keith, who maintained firm footing even as Kwan slid into him, and Spencer Torkelson stretched to his limit to quash the slow-footed Fry at first.
Skubal came off the mound spitting fire and brimstone, Cleveland went nine up, nine down the rest of the way, and Carpenter struck that unlikely blow against the series' other invincible pitcher. Presumably, their Cy Young winner-in-waiting will be recharged by Saturday to take the mound if this one goes five, so the immediate task that faces the Tigers is simple: Win one of two at home, then trust in Skubal.
