Recap: Tigers beat Guardians 6-3 to reach ALDS against Mariners

Dillon Dingler homered in the sixth inning, Wenceel Pérez drove in a pair of runs in a four-run seventh and the Detroit Tigers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 Thursday to advance to the American League Division Series.

BY JOE REEDY

Oct 2, 2025, 3:35 PM Updated: 3:39 pm

Follow on Google News

Detroit Tigers Cleveland Guardians Dillon Dingler Seattle Mariners ALDS...

CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 02: Dillon Dingler #13 of the Detroit Tigers celebrates with teammates after hitting a home run during the sixth inning to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead against the Cleveland Guardians in game three of the American League Wild Card Series at Progressive Field on October 02, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

(Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

CLEVELAND (AP) — Dillon Dingler homered in the sixth inning, Wenceel Pérez drove in a pair of runs in a four-run seventh and the Detroit Tigers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 Thursday to advance to the American League Division Series.

Detroit Tigers 6, Cleveland Guardians 3: Box score

It is the second straight season the Tigers have won a Wild Card Series on the road. Detroit heads to Seattle for the Division Series with Game 1 on Saturday.

The AL West champion Mariners, the second seed, took four of the six regular-season meetings from the Tigers, who were the third wild card.

The ALDS is set: Seattle Mariners will face Detroit Tigers

José Ramírez drove in Cleveland’s first run. The AL Central champion Guardians were 15 1/2 games back in early July before completing the biggest comeback in division or league play in baseball history.

However, they ran out of steam in the best-of-three series as Detroit turned the page after posting the second-worst record in the majors in September (7-17).

The game was tied 1-all with two outs in the sixth inning when Dingler got an elevated changeup from Joey Cantillo on a 1-1 count and drove it 401 feet into the bleachers in left-center to put the Tigers on top.

It was also the first postseason hit and RBI for the Tigers catcher.

DING DONG 😤

Dillon Dingler gives the Gritty Tigs the lead! pic.twitter.com/sIB0KSeqJr

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2025

Detroit then broke it open in the seventh by sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring four times.

With one out and the bases loaded, Pérez lined a base hit to right off Erik Sabrowski to drive in Javier Báez and Parker Meadows.

Wenceel Pérez extends the @Tigers lead! pic.twitter.com/9GJA3IYT5t

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2025

Hunter Gaddis came in and gave up RBI base hits to Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene, which brought in Kerry Carpenter and Pérez.

RILEY GREENE!

Three straight RBI hits for the @Tigers! pic.twitter.com/bclrYT9JyJ

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2025

Kyle Finnegan got the win, retiring all four batters he faced. Cantillo took the loss.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the third. With one out and runners on the corners, Carpenter hit a grounder down the first-base line that deflected off C.J. Kayfus’ glove when he tried to back hand it. The ball rolled into foul territory near the stands as Parker Meadows scored, Carpenter went to second and Gleyber Torres advanced to third on what the official scorer ruled a double.

The Guardians tied it in the fourth. George Valera led off with a double to the right-field corner and scored on Ramírez’s base hit to right-center on a knuckle curve by Flaherty on a full count.

The single was the 40th hit of Ramírez’s postseason career, making him the fifth player in franchise history to reach that milestone.

In the eighth inning, Ramírez reached on missed catch error by Detroit reliever Will Vest to score Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan. But Ramírez was thrown out at second.

Why Jay Buhner calls Mariners a ‘scary’ playoff matchup