Tigers clinch AL wild card with 4-1 win over White Sox, ending decade-long postseason drought

Detroit Tigers earned an AL wild card berth on Friday night, ending a dece-long postseason drought.

Detroit clinched a spot in playoffs with a 4-1 win over Chicago White Sox, who set a modern major league record with ir 121st loss.

Tigers have been on a tear, winning six straight and 10 of 11 to surge into playoffs and eliminate defending AL Central champion Minnesota Twins from race.

Since Aug. 11, when Detroit was eight games under .500 and counted out of contention, it has been hottest team in majors with 31 wins in 42 games with lowest ERA in baseball and largest run differential.

AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal les Detroit's rotation and Jason Foley has become a reliable closer in a strong bullpen.

Riley Greene, an All-Star outfielder, is team's top player in a lineup that gets timely hitting from top to bottom.

Taking vantage of playing a historically b team, Detroit broke a scoreless tie in fifth inning Friday night. Jake Rogers scored when Jared Shuster was charged with a wild pitch even though ball didn’t hit dirt just below catcher Korey Lee’s glove.

Greene put Detroit ahe 3-1 with a double in seventh, and Chicago helped home team’s cause again later in inning when Fraser Ellard threw team’s third wild pitch of night.

Detroit went into season expecting to contend for a spot in playoffs in a second full season under president of basketball operations Scott Harris and A.J. Hinch's fourth year as manager.

Tigers started strong, winning six of ir first seven games. y h a winning record until mid-May, when team started to slide in standings.

y appeared to be out of pitching at end of July when Kenta Maeda was demoted to bullpen, Casey Mize and Reese Olson were injured and Jack Flaherty was tred to Los Angeles Dodgers.

Each time it looked like Tigers might rally, y would fail to sustain success and many fans in state turned ir attention to football.

Hinch got creative, rolling with a rotation of Skubal and rookie Keider Montero while relying on bullpen to pitch entire games such as series opener against White Sox in front of 44,435 fans at Comerica Park.

Skubal and Montero have combined to go 11-3 since August 1, but only one or starting pitcher has won a game, and that was Brant Hurter against Los Angeles Angels a month ago.

Motor City's baseball team salvaged season and revived interest, drawing big crowds after closing recent seasons in a mostly empty ballpark.