Hilarious announcer jinx helps Tigers in playoff race after Elly De La Cruz's massive grand slam

While the Detroit Tigers were embattled in a tight pitchers duel with the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, the Minnesota Twins – the Tigers' American League Central Division rivals and the team directly ahead of them in the AL Wild Card standings – were already down by two runs to the Cincinnati Reds in an inter-league matchup at Target Field.

As Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz stepped up to the plate in the top of the seventh inning, Cincinnati play-by-play announcer John Sadak stated the obvious:

"Elly De La Cruz does not yet have a grand slam in his career."

Hollywood couldn't have produced a better script for what happened next. Twins relief pitcher Jorge Alcala delivered the first pitch of the at-bat to De La Cruz, who swung and drilled a hanging slider over the right field wall to lift Cincinnati to a 7-1 lead.

Sadak, for his part, recovered beautifully with a memorable call of De La Cruz's career fist:

"High fly ... He does now!"

Hilarious announcer jinx helps Tigers in playoff race after Elly De La Cruz's massive grand slam

As far as announcer jinxes go, it doesn't get much better than this – not only for De La Cruz, who set a new Reds franchise record for the most home runs by a switch hitter in a single season with 24, but also for the Tigers, who arguably stand to benefit more from a Twins loss more than any other team.

With a 1-0 win over the Orioles Friday, Detroit is now just 2.5 games back of the Twins for the third and final AL Wild Card spot. No one thought about the Tigers as a playoff team this year, but they've gotten hot – and stayed hot – at the right time. With two weeks to go in the 2024 campaign, can they pull of a miracle and make the postseason?

It would certainly help Detroit's case if the Twins continue their free fall. They're just 8-16 in their last 24 games dating back to Aug. 18. In the meantime, if Sadak could speak some more grand slams off of Twins pitchers into existence, Tigers fans would certainly appreciate it.

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