Beau Brieske, Trey Sweeney step up for Detroit Tigers in AL wild-card chase

BALTIMORE — The Detroit Tigers were all but guaranteed to lose Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles because of what seemed like an impossible circumstance to overcome in the bottom of the ninth inning.

"It's almost impossible," said right-hander Reese Olson, who started Saturday.

The situation: Two runners in scoring position with no outs for the Orioles. Right-handed reliever Beau Brieske inherited runners on second and third, needing to get all three outs without allowing a runner to score.

There was no margin for error.

"It was almost an out-of-body experience," Brieske said. "The adrenaline was so high. I don't know if I've ever had that much. There was just a tunnel directly to the plate. I just didn't care about the negative outcome. I wasn't afraid."

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Brieske did the near-impossible.

He sent down three batters in a row — Cedric Mullins (groundout), Anthony Santander (pop out), Colton Cowser (flyout) — without allowing a run to force extra innings. Before the great escape, right-handed reliever Jason Foley blew a two-run lead and left a mess for Brieske.

Brieske focused on one pitch at a time.

"It was supreme focus," Brieske said. "There wasn't really a fear of blowing it because I didn't go in there with that mindset. I had to go down fighting, so give it all I got and see what happens."

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The Tigers ended up winning, 6-4, in the 10th inning, with Riley Greene driving in the go-ahead run by hitting the first pitch from right-handed reliever Yennier Cano for a single on the ground and into right field.

The Tigers never quit.

"These are the games we live for," Greene said. "These are the ones you want to be in every single day of the week. They're fun. That's a really good team over there. It's fun competing against those guys. We're going out there and leave it all on the field."

After the epic win, the Tigers (81-74) trail the Minnesota Twins by a half-game for the third and final spot in the American League wild-card race. They also trail the Kansas City Royals by one game for the second wild-card spot. Both the Twins and the Royals own the tiebreaker over the Tigers. (The Seattle Mariners, meanwhile, are one game behind the Tigers.)

The Tigers have seven games remaining.

"I think everyone on this team is just so close," said Olson, who allowed one run across three innings in his second start since returning from the injured list. "We're all playing for each other. We're all on the same page in that aspect."

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Shortstop Trey Sweeney, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Jack Flaherty trade, saved the game — and the postseason odds — with an over-the-head catch in shallow left field for the second out in the ninth.

Santander hit a popup that was chased by both Greene in left field and Sweeney at shortstop. Sweeney caught the ball, then held on while tumbling over Greene.

"If it drops, the game is over," Sweeney said.

But he caught the ball.

"Big-time play," Greene said.

"Game-saving catch," Brieske said.

On the collision, Sweeney got the wind knocked out of him.

"I had to chase after it," Sweeney said. "I learned from the mistake I made in Kansas City (on Bobby Witt Jr.'s bloop double in Wednesday's eighth inning), not getting to the ball in time, and it fell in for a hit. So when I saw it go up, I had to get there."

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Brieske, 26, has tossed five scoreless outings in a row against postseason contenders, including three of them against the Orioles in a span of eight days. Sweeney, 24, has played just 30 games in his MLB career, but he has proven to be steady at shortstop while finally heating up on offense, including back-to-back multi-hit performances.

Those were the heroes in Saturday's 6-4 win.

But everyone played a role.

"From the beginning to the end, it was just an incredible back-and-forth," Hinch said. "Low-scoring game to runners all over the place late to a lot of big pitches our end, a huge defensive play by Sweeney, some timely hitting and an incredible character win."

His shortstop agreed.

"It's definitely a character win," Sweeney said. "We've been battling for a long time now, and we've had a lot of good comeback wins. We never stopped grinding and never stopped fighting. That was a good win for us."

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 AL wild-card chase gets 'almost impossible' boost