Detroit Tigers pull off another rally to stun Rays, 4-3, can clinch playoffs Friday

The Detroit Tigers couldn't get anything going against Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Tyler Alexander.

Alexander, a crafty southpaw who pitched for the Tigers from 2019-23, shoved five scoreless innings with six strikeouts, limiting the Tigers to just four hits.

"We were not finding anything early," manager A.J. Hinch said.

After waiting out Alexander, the Tigers mounted a comeback in the later innings for a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Thursday's finale of a three-game series at Comerica Park, extending their winning streak to five games. The Tigers' magic number — the combination of Tigers wins and Minnesota Twins losses — to clinch a playoff berth is two.

Colt Keith finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

"We love to grind the whole game," Keith said. "Grind out at-bats and go to the end and take the lead. We've done that so many times this year. I love that about us. We never give up."

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The Tigers (85-74) have a 30-11 record in their past 41 games.

"That's a huge win for us, especially how the game started and where we're at in the season," Hinch said. "We know what's at stake. This is an unbelievable experience. We don't want it to stop, and it doesn't have to stop if we can continue to play this way."

Right-handed reliever Jason Foley struck out Jose Siri to complete the sweep , which put the Tigers 2½ games ahead of the Twins in the American League wild-card race, with the Twins (who have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tigers) facing the Miami Marlins on Thursday night.

The Tigers also stayed even with the Kansas City Royals, who finished a sweep of the Washington Nationals on Thursday, for the second AL wild-card spot, but the Royals have the tiebreaker over the Tigers. Wins from the Tigers and Royals eliminated the Seattle Mariners from postseason contention.

On Friday, the Tigers begin a three-game series at home against the Chicago White Sox , who come to town tied for the MLB record of 120 losses but riding a three-game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Twins host the wild-card leading Baltimore Orioles.

"I know what it feels like to accomplish something," Hinch said, "and I want so desperately for these guys to get to taste it, and we're getting closer and closer by the day."

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On Thursday, the Tigers put the finishing touches on their comeback in the eighth inning by scoring two runs off left-handed reliever Garrett Cleavinger for a 4-3 lead.

Keith tied the game, 3-3, with an RBI single.

"I knew he was going to try to throw a sinker in to try to get me to roll over into the double play," Keith said. "I just really wanted to stay inside of it. That was my plan going into it. He threw those sinkers in, and I checked swing on one, and then the next one was right there on the inner half, and I was able to stay inside of it for a base hit."

At that point, there were runners on the corners with one out for Justyn-Henry Malloy, who pinch-hit for Kerry Carpenter. The Tigers wanted Malloy — instead of Carpenter — against the lefty reliever.

Carpenter understood.

"It always crosses my mind," said Carpenter, hitting .107 in 32 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers, "and I know I would have had a really good chance to come through there, too. But I have a bunch of confidence in J-Hen."

The pinch-hit decision worked to perfection, as Malloy hit a sixth-pitch slider to center field. The ball traveled deep enough for Matt Vierling to make it 4-3 with a head-first slide from third base.

Vierling pumped his fist and screamed in celebration.

"I knew I got enough," Malloy said. "I know Siri has a good arm (in center field), but we have (third-base coach) Joey Cora, so he's sending V, and V's got good speed. ... He was safe, and it was like a party in the dugout."

The comeback began in the sixth inning against right-handed reliever Hunter Bigge. Three consecutive Tigers reached safely, all with two outs: Vierling worked a seven-pitch walk, Keith ripped a triple and Carpenter smacked a single.

The triple from Keith and the single from Carpenter drove in one run apiece, cutting the Tigers' deficit to 3-2. Carpenter came off the bench as a pinch-hitter, replacing Spencer Torkelson.

"I think everybody knows that we can get the job done," Carpenter said, "whether it's the hardest righty on Tork or the hardest lefty on me. No one's in there not confident just because we get pinch-hit for. It's just, pass the baton."

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Reese Olson starts

Right-hander Reese Olson made his third start since returning from the injured list, increasing his pitch count to 72 pitches. He threw 50 pitches in his first start and 58 pitches in his second start.

"It's a lot of fun to come to the park every day," Olson said.

In his third start, Olson allowed two runs on four hits and zero walks with three strikeouts across four innings. The Rays tagged him for two runs on three singles in the third inning.

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All three singles were hit past Keith at second base, including Brandon Lowe's two-run single with two outs. The other two hits came from Ben Rortvedt and Taylor Walls.

Olson bounced back by avoiding damage on a one-out single in the fourth inning. The 25-year-old owns a 6.75 ERA across 9⅓ innings in three starts since coming back from a right shoulder strain, which sidelined him for nearly two months.

"I didn't feel very sharp, command-wise, stuff-wise," Olson said. "But I was able to keep us in it enough, so the bullpen could pick me up, and then the boys scored late. I'm happy that I did a good enough job keeping us in the game when I didn't necessarily feel too sharp."

Casey Mize's new role

It was odd to see.

Right-hander Casey Mize worked as a reliever for the first time in his professional career, following 31 starts in the minor leagues and 59 starts in the major leagues. He hadn't pitched out of the bullpen since his freshman season at Auburn in 2016.

"First time in a long time," Mize said.

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Eight years later, Mize jogged out of the bullpen for the fifth inning of Thursday's game against the Rays. The 27-year-old gave up one run on three hits and zero walks with four strikeouts across two innings, throwing 39 pitches.

A triple and a wild pitch in the fifth put the Rays ahead, 3-0.

But Mize impressed in the sixth, when he allowed a leadoff double but stranded the runner with three strikeouts in a row: Dylan Carlson (splitter, swinging), Josh Lowe (fastball, swinging) and Siri (fastball, looking).

"Pretty frustrated after the leadoff double," Mize said, "and then I knew I needed to get some miss and execute some pitches. It's such a close game, and I didn't want to put us in a deeper hole than we were in. I was certainly happy to get out of that."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers pull off another rally to stun Rays, 4-3, can clinch playoffs Friday