Guardians win, complete improbable September comeback tied for first place in AL Central

1,458. That is the minimum number of innings that make up a Major League Baseball regular season. However, none were more crucial for the Cleveland Guardians than the sixth inning on Tuesday night's contest against the Detroit Tigers.

They were facing presumptive AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and coming off having a miracle 10 game winning streak snapped Sunday night.

Talking heads all over the media were already discounting this game in Cleveland's pursuit of chasing down the Tigers for the AL Central crown. Through the first five innings they seemed to be right, Skubal was cruising and the Guards was sputtering.

As has happened all September though, Cleveland never appeared to have self doubt, or look panicked and the Tigers on the converse side started to look nervous and play restricted. The sixth inning was a microcosm of the month of September for both sides.

The Guardians managed to score three runs and take a 3-2 lead over Detroit without hitting a ball past the dirt of the infield and harder than 65 mph (thats baseball for you). It began with a Steven Kwan bunt base hit, and then things started to get truly bizzare. Angel Martinez followed with a bunt of his own and for some inxplicable reason Skubal decided to long snap the ball to first and overshot the bag. Jose Ramirez then would follow with a slow chopped ground ball to third base that would turn into an RBI single.

The next batter, David Fry was drilled in the face by a Skubal fastball, which clearly visibly shook the Tigers pitcher as he ended up throwing a wild pitch to score the tying run and send Ramirez to second. To make matters worse Skubal would balk and allow Ramirez to scamper to third base and later score following an RBI groundout by Gabriel Arias.

Cleveland would add two runs in the 7th inning following a two out walk by Austin Hedges, a double by Steven Kwan and a clutch pinch hit single by Daniel Schneeman.

The starting pitching was dominant yet again today as Gavin Williams went 6 innings giving up just two runs, extending the franchise record to 18 consecutive games started with 2 or fewer earned runs allowed by a Cleveland starter. Let's not forget about the bullpen with Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis, and Cade Smith pitching three scoreless innings to secure the 5-3 win.

In a game that felt like Game 1 of a playoff series, the importance of this win cannot be overstated. The Guardians now are tied with Detroit for the AL Central with two games to go, and own the season series and tiebreaker over the Tigers who looked downright lost after the sixth inning collapse.

The Tigers have now lost seven in a row and nine out of their last 10, let alone to completely choke away a 99.9% chance of winning the division in the last month of the season, and losing a game with your ace on the bump. There is still at least 45 of those innings to go before we get to October but momentum and seemingly destiny seem to be on the side of the Guards.