Tigers' Keider Montero shuts down Guardians for massive series victory

Tigers right-hander Keider Montero delivered his sixth shutout of 2026 as a starting pitcher with 6⅓ dominant innings to lead Detroit to a 3-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, Aug. 13. The Tigers offense recorded only three hits off Guardians rookie starter Parker Messick, but the low run support was enough cushion thanks to Montero.

Javier Báez, making his first career start in left field in place of the injured Riley Greene, scored in the third inning on a groundout from Dillon Dingler with the bases loaded. Rookie designated hitter Eduardo Valencia doubled the lead with a solo home run off Messick in the bottom of the sixth.

The Tigers won two out of three to pick up their first regular season series victory against the Guardians since a three-game sweep on July 4-6, 2025. The Tigers beat the Guardians 2-1 in the 2025 AL wild-card round.

The Tigers gained ground on the Chicago White Sox, who come to Comerica Park on Friday, in the AL Central standings and stayed right in the thick of the wild card race.

The Tigers (60-61) celebrated the win tied for the final AL wild-card spot with the Texas Rangers, who were set to face the Los Angeles Angels at 10 p.m. Thursday.

Montero did not need to generate a bunch of whiffs to be effective. The Tigers right-hander did not record a single strikeout across the 6⅓ innings.

The Guardians only whiffed two times on 37 swings against Montero's pitches and had seven hard-hit balls (exit velocity greater than 95 mph), but Montero only gave up three hits and one walk. Montero also had 14 called strikes without a swing.

Of Montero's 88 pitches, he threw 33 four-seam fastballs, 21 sliders, 12 sinkers, 11 changeups and eight knuckle curves.

After inducing a Jo Adell groundout to start the seventh, left-handed reliever Tyler Holton replaced Montero. Holton worked through the eighth inning with one single allowed. Kenley Jansen picked up the save with a smooth ninth inning.

Valencia, who was called up from Triple-A Toledo in early July, remains a threat in the right-handed batter's box.

He punished one of Messick's rare mistakes Thursday – a curveball that stayed in the zone in a 2-2 count – by turning on it and sending it 389 feet over the left-field fence, tucking just inside of the foul pole.

Báez started the third inning with a double down the left-field line. Ben Malgeri got hit by a pitch and Gleyber Torres drew a walk to load the bases. Dingler drove in one run, but Kevin McGonigle and Valencia struck out to end the threat.

Spencer Torkelson remained hot with runners in scoring position with an RBI single in the eighth, pushing the lead to 3-0. Torkelson finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. The first baseman came into Thursday hitting .319 with a 1.029 OPS and 41 RBIs in 117 plate appearances with runners in scoring position in 2026.

The Tigers host the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox for a three-game series. The first game is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. on Friday (Detroit SportsNet/WXYT 97.1 FM). Tigers RHP Jackson Jobe (1-0, 0.00 ERA) is scheduled to make his second start in returning from Tommy John surgery. The White Sox have not named a probable starter.

Contact Jared Ramsey at jramsey@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers' Keider Montero shuts down Guardians for massive series victory