CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians played checkers. A.J. Hinch played chess.

The Detroit Tigers' manager worked his magic once again, and got his best hitter, Kerry Carpenter up to the plate in the game's biggest moment against the game's preeminent closer.

Carpenter launched a 2-2 slider 423 feet over the fence in right field for a two-out, three-run homer to break a scoreless game in the ninth inning, giving the Tigers a 3-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday at Progressive Field in a thrilling, controversial Game 2 of the ALDS. It's the first home run Cleveland's Emmanuel Clase has given up on a slider since 2022, according to the TBS TV broadcast.

The best-of-five series is now even at 1-1.

The Tigers and Guardians have an off day Tuesday, before Wednesday's Game 3 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Game 4 is Thursday evening. A potential Game 5 is Saturday in Cleveland.

A fired-up Tarik Skubal shut down the Guardians, taking a perfect game into the fifth inning and finishing seven scoreless innings. He has now pitched 13 scoreless innings in his first two postseason starts, putting him in historic MLB company.

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Former Tigers starter Matthew Boyd threw 4⅔ innings of shutout ball for the Guardians.

This breaking news story will be updated.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kerry Carpenter smashes HR to lift Tigers past Guardians 3-0 in Game 2