Andy Ibáñez was a below-average hitter this year who also was worse than the league against fastballs. Josh Hader throws one of the best fastballs in the game. The Tigers utilityman bested the Astros’ star closer in the eighth inning anyway, hitting a double off a 98 mph sinker on a 1-and-2 count to clear the loaded bases and put Detroit into the next round of the playoffs with a 5-2 win in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series. The Tigers will face the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series.
“When he’s throwing it to the top-half of the zone, it’s really good,” Astros pitching coach Josh Miller had said of Hader’s fastball, which is one of the more dominant and deceptive in the game. “When he’s throwing it down, it gives guys a chance.”
The pitch that yielded the double that essentially ended Houston’s season was down in the zone. That obscured a great outing from Astros starter Hunter Brown, who limited the Tigers to one run — a Parker Meadows homer — through 5 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts.
In the seventh, the Astros scraped together their first lead of the series with a hit batter, two singles and some smart, aggressive base running by Jeremy Peña. But in the eighth, everything unraveled for their bullpen, as Ryan Pressly and Hader combined to give up two singles, two walks, a wild pitch, and Ibáñez’s big double.
“Pitching chaos the rest of this week” is what Tigers manager A.J. Hinch promised behind ace Tarik Skubal, who dominated in Game 1. Hinch’s long-reliever plan in Game 2 fit that billing, and it worked. Five of the six Tigers relievers held the Astros scoreless, with only rookie Jackson Jobe allowing any runs. — Eno Sarris
Andy Ibáñez’s bases-clearing double sent the Tigers to the ALDS
For so long, Ibáñez was the Tigers’ ultimate chess piece, a right-handed hitter who destroys lefties, a bench weapon Hinch saved for the biggest moments. And then, his bat went cold. Ibáñez hit just .161 after July 21. He had not driven in a run since Sept. 10. Still Hinch turned to Ibáñez to face Hader with the bases loaded. Ibáñez got down 0-2 against one of the game’s most fearsome relievers. And then, after fouling off a 1-2 pitch, Ibáñez got a center-cut sinker and ripped it down the left-field line at 105 mph. All three runners scored. Ibáñez drove in more runners with one swing than he had in 54 plate appearances. There were two innings to play, but the air was sucked out of Minute Maid Park after the type of unlikely moment that has epitomized the Tigers’ mesmerizing run to the playoffs. — Cody Stavenhagen
Jackson Jobe’s baptism by fire
Hinch’s pitching chaos had unfolded as planned. He spent the first six innings of the game building bridges from frame to frame. By the seventh, his team had a 1-0 lead. He needed nine more outs. For three of them, he turned toward Jobe, the elite prospect who had thrown all of four major-league innings. The Tigers brought Jobe to the majors for a moment like this. There was only one way they would find out if he was truly ready, and that was by inserting him in such a situation and seeing what happened. Jobe hit Victor Caratini on his first pitch. Then the Astros blooped the Tigers to death. With the bases loaded, Spencer Torkelson bounced a throw home that Jake Rogers could not corral. Matt Vierling fielded a fly ball in foul territory but sailed his throw to the plate up the line. The Astros scored two runs, and Jobe was done after only 1/3 of an inning. Sean Guenther entered and induced a double play to minimize the damage, but Jobe’s big postseason test turned into a game-changing mess. — Stavenhagen
Bullpen blowup
Houston did not have to disrupt its bullpen harmony this winter. Pressly had established himself as one of the game’s premier closers while setup man Bryan Abreu is perhaps the most underrated reliever in baseball. Splurging on Hader is the sort of thing this franchise never does but pulled off for scenarios like Wednesday. It blew up in spectacular fashion. Pressly and Hader teamed to combust in a calamitous eighth inning. Catcher Yainer Diaz’s inability to corral a spiked breaking ball didn’t help, nor did Jose Altuve’s lack of range at second base on Vierling’s routine grounder against the shift. Both flaws derailed Pressly’s performance. He had allowed one earned run in his past 26 2/3 playoff innings. Ibánez’s double tripled that number. He only hit because Hader walked the first batter he faced — a cardinal sin that October can’t forgive. — Chandler Rome
Hunter Brown continues to blossom
Brown bullied his boyhood team across 5 ⅔ brilliant innings, bringing his season-long ascension into acehood onto the sport’s biggest stage. Brown struck out nine, surrendered just two hits and maintained two fastballs harder than 97 mph. Pitching coach Josh Miller once said Brown will “breathe fire and snarl and try to act mean, even though that’s not his nature.” Few who watched Wednesday’s start would agree. Brown pitched like a man possessed, painting the corners with a four-seam fastball that generated 13 called strikes and whiffs along with a cutter he incorporated to neutralize Detroit’s left-handed hitters. Brown’s lone blemish wasn’t even one at all — a well-located 94.2 mph fastball inside on Meadows’ hands. Meadows, a left-handed hitter in the lineup only because Brown started, clanked it off the right-field foul pole for a solo home run. Three batters later, when Espada emerged to yank Brown, the crowd rose to a crescendo, offering a well-deserved ovation for their homegrown star. — Rome
(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
