Tigers, Royals sweep foes, make MLB playoffs

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Andy Ibañez smashed a three-run double in the eighth inning and the Detroit Tigers defeated Houston, 5-2, to advance in the Major League Baseball playoffs on Wednesday.

Detroit swept the best-of-three American League (AL) wild card series to reach a second-round matchup against the Cleveland Guardians, who will host the opener on Saturday.

The upstart Tigers, who had not reached the playoffs since 2014 and had not won a playoff series since 2013, ousted an Astros club that had reached the AL championship series in each of the past seven seasons.

“We just needed to believe,” Ibañez said.

“That’s the one thing we were missing. We believed coming into this series and we ended up beating a great team in the Astros and now we’re moving on.”

With the contest deadlocked and the bases loaded, Ibanez blasted the game-winning hit down the left-field line off left-handed Houston relief pitcher Josh Hader.

“I think that was the best at-bat of my life,” Ibañez, a 31-year-old Cuban, said through a translator.

“The coaches were telling me to be ready to face a left-hander and the moment finally came.”

Also advancing were the Kansas City Royals, who edged host Baltimore 2-1 to sweep the Orioles.

“This group is special. We’re not done yet,” said Bobby Witt Jr., who drove in the winning run for the second game in a row.

The Royals, in the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 2015, will face the New York Yankees in the second round starting Saturday in New York.

“We didn’t come this far to come this far,” Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino said.