Tigers clinch playoff berth after September swoon

After flirting with disaster all month, the Detroit Tigers are heading to October.

The Tigers clinched a playoff spot Saturday after they beat the Boston Red Sox 2-1 at Fenway Park.

Keider Montero allowed one earned run and struck out seven over 4 1/3 innings, and Detroit's bullpen shut down the Red Sox the rest of the way.

Leadoff hitter Jahmai Jones was responsible for driving in both of the Tigers' runs with a bases-loaded knock in the fifth inning.

Detroit managed to right the ship and make the playoffs after nearly authoring one of the biggest late-season collapses in baseball history. The Tigers were 15.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians in July, and 10.5 up in early September before slumping down the stretch to let Cleveland take control of the division.

"Everybody is going to start 0-0 when the (playoff) games start. I'm going to sell that a lot because of the way we've come," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.

"Our guys earned this celebration, and because of how good we were for a majority of the season, we were able to withstand a tough stretch."

At 87-74, the Tigers are now tied with Cleveland in the AL Central. Cleveland holds the tiebreaker over the Tigers, meaning Detroit must finish ahead of the Guardians to win the division.