Kerry Carpenter HR vs Emmanuel Clase was message to Guardians fans about AL Cy Young race

Game 2 of the Tigers-Guardians ALDS was, first and foremost, a pitching showcase. With Tarik Skubal on the bump for Detroit, that was a given, but the Guardians' starter for the evening in former Tiger Matthew Boyd was also there putting up a fight to try and put Cleveland up 2-0 before the series went to Comerica.

Skubal was characteristically excellent. He gave the Tigers seven innings, matching his start against the Astros in the Wild Card, and only allowed three hits and no walks while striking out eight batters. The Tigers defense had his back, turning two key double plays to keep the game scoreless heading into the ninth.

Boyd, who only made eight regular season starts after spending most of the year on the IL, went 4 2/3 innings before being relieved. Cade Smith and Tim Herrin rounded out the first seven innings for the Guardians and kept the Tigers scoreless.

After a brief stop at reliever Hunter Gaddis, Cleveland turned to their star closer, Emmanuel Clase, to take over and get the last out in the eighth. He did, thanks to an infuriatingly great play by Steven Kwan to take a run from Detroit with a man in scoring position.

The Guardians kept Clase in for the top of the ninth, hoping to give their offense a chance to walk things off or send it to extras.

And then Kerry Carpenter, in his second at-bat off the bench, did the impossible. He battled Clase to a 2-2 count and then crushed a hanging slider out of the park to plate the first runs of the game. It was only the third homer Clase allowed in 2024, and the hardest-hit ball off of him (110.8 MPH) ever. A 19th-round draft pick did that.

That was all the Tigers needed to take Game 2 and to make themselves even with the Guardians in the ALDS. And now the Tigers will get to take this series back to Detroit, to hopefully advance to the CS in front of their home crowd.

Kerry Carpenter's HR off Emmanuel Clase should end the Clase-Skubal Cy Young debate once and for all

The fact that the Tigers roared back against Clase, specifically, held a different kind of weight. Starting in September, some weird internet noise started to crop up around Clase, Skubal, and the Cy Young race. Skubal has set himself apart from every other pitcher in the game this season — he's a Triple Crown winner, a guy who clearly won't let postseason pressure get to him — but for some reason, Guardians fans decided to kick up a fuss and insist that Clase should win the top prize over Skubal.

This is ridiculous for so many reasons. No one is refuting the fact that Clase is the best closer in baseball, but he didn't pitch over 190 innings in the regular season for a sub-2.50 ERA. He didn't lead both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs WAR. Clase pitched 74 1/3 innings, Skubal pitched 192. Skubal won the Triple Crown and has been almost unanimously lauded as the best pitcher (not closer, pitcher) in baseball this year. At this point, it'll be shocking if Skubal doesn't win the Cy Young unanimously.

So Carpenter hitting that tank off of Clase on the same day Skubal blanked the Guardians through seven en route to a shutout in the postseason? Golden. You couldn't have written it better. Cased closed, even though the playoff results don't factor into the voting.