Tigers head to ALDS after eliminating Guardians

The Detroit Tigers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 in Thursday's Game 3 of the American League wild-card series and will play the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS.

Detroit heads to the ALDS for the second straight campaign. It lost to the Guardians in last year's division series.

Dillon Dingler hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead before they plated four more runs in the seventh.

The Guardians made it interesting in the eighth, scoring two after José Ramírez reached first on a Will Vest error. Ramírez was ruled out at second on the same play - following a video review - thanks to Vest recovering from his mistake to make a terrific throw.

Kyle Finnegan earned the win for Detroit after coming in to relieve starter Jack Flaherty, who allowed three hits and one earned run over 4 2/3 innings. Joey Cantillo took the loss for the Guardians.

"You have to earn these wins. You have to earn the opportunity to play in October. You've got to earn a full series win over a good team," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said postgame, according to MLB Network.

"I'm so proud of our team. You've got to fight, and we did, and we have to continue to do that."

Cleveland ends its season after soaring back to steal the AL Central crown from the Tigers, who led the division by 15.5 games on July 8.

"That stings. It stings for it to end that way. I couldn't be more proud of them, of what we accomplished, but it's not enough," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said after the loss.

"We want more."

Game 1 of the ALDS begins Saturday in Seattle. The Mariners won the regular-season series 4-2 over the Tigers.