– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — After the 162 games are done, and after the thousands upon thousands of at-bats, the Detroit Tigers postseason fate may end up being decided by a three-pitch sequence, where an effort evoking the Man of Steel and, in the following inning, a go-ahead home run, turned the tide and continued the most remarkable Cinderella run towards an unlikely postseason berth.
Center fielder Parker Meadows scaled the wall to rob a potential go-ahead home run to end the bottom of the fifth inning before Kerry Carpenter led off the sixth with his second home run of the game, a solo shot that was the winning run in the Tigers’ 4-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon. The win, along with the Boston Red Sox’s sweep of the Minnesota Twins in a split doubleheader, moves Detroit into the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League — one game ahead of the Twins — going into the final week of the season.
The Tigers’ win also prevented the Orioles from clinching a playoff spot and gives Detroit the tiebreaker against Baltimore should the teams finish tied as the Tigers took the season series 4-2.
The Tigers were 55-63 at the end of play on August 10, but have gone 27-11 since. According to STATS, if Detroit makes the postseason, it will become the second team in Major League history to reach the playoffs in a non-shortened season after falling eight games below .500 in August or later, joining the “Ya Gotta Believe” New York Mets of 1973.
Detroit saw a 3-0 lead evaporate in the fifth inning, as a Cedric Mullins two-run home run and an RBI double from Jordan Westburg — both hits coming off of starter Ty Madden — tied the game. Reliever Sean Guenther came on in place of Madden after the double and got Anthony Santander to ground out for the second out. With the go-ahead run, Westburg, at third base, Colton Cowser sent a fastball deep into right-center field for what appeared to be the go-ahead home run that would have sent the sold-out Camden Yards into delirium and readied the stadium for a playoff-clinching party atmosphere.
But Meadows had other ideas. He raced to the warning track before leaping and stretching his 6-foot-5 frame into the air and stabbing at the ball, which plopped into his glove before making his descent.
“That guy’s Superman,” Tigers rookie third baseman Jace Jung said. “He flies through the air.”
Surprisingly enough, it was the second time Meadows made a breathtaking catch to rob a go-ahead home run, as he brought back a Cal Raleigh blast with a man aboard and two outs in the eighth inning of an August 7 game at Seattle that would have given the Mariners a 4-3 lead. (The Tigers won the game 6-2.)
“I appreciate the challenge, 100 percent,” Meadows said after today’s latest thievery. “My job is to go and get every ball.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Rodney Pierce. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are XX pictures in total.
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