DETROIT – All five games that mattered to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday went their way as they moved into a playoff position for the first time.
The Tigers have been flirting with a wild card spot for the past few weeks, but on Sunday, all the breaks went their way as they officially moved into a playoff spot for the first time since the first half of the season.
At the start of the day, the Tigers trailed the Minnesota Twins by a half-game in the wild card race. The Twins were rained out Saturday, so they played two games with the Red Sox on Sunday.
The Tigers also trailed the Kansas City Royals by one game, and led the Seattle Mariners by one game.
First thing’s first: The Tigers needed to take care of their own business in the rubber match against the Baltimore Orioles. They jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but then blew that lead in the bottom of the fifth.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to respond. Kerry Carpenter came up in the top of the sixth and hit his second homer of the game to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.
That turned out to be the game-winning run.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox gave the Tigers a huge lift by beating the Twins like a drum -- first 8-1 in the first game and 9-3 in the second.
That vaulted the Tigers into the third and final wild card spot, leading the Twins by one game.
As an added bonus, the Royals lost their seventh-straight game to fall into a tie with the Tigers at 82-74.
Finally, the Mariners blew a 5-0 lead to lose a heartbreaker in Texas. That put them a full two games behind Detroit.
This race is far from over, but Sunday could not have gone better for the Tigers. Now they get to go home for the final six games with full control of their own destiny.
