Hinch says Tigers aren't sweating Game 1 loss: My team won't ever panic

The Cinderella Detroit Tigers came into Cleveland on a massive high, only to be given a quick reality check by the Guardians in Game 1 of the ALDS.

Cleveland dropped the Tigers into a huge hole Saturday with a 7-0 victory in Game 1 of the ALDS. Although the result made Monday's Game 2 an even more pivotal contest for Detroit, manager A.J. Hinch is adamant that nobody in his clubhouse is sweating.

"I'd challenge the premise that your back's against the wall," Hinch said Sunday, according to Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. "This isn't an elimination game. We want to win every game, but we don't even come to the ballpark today with that sort of mindset. I mean, that's a defeatist (attitude).

"I'm not going to have a team that ever panics."

Detroit was in total control of its wild-card series sweep of the Houston Astros, which came on the heels of a miracle 31-14 run to reach the postseason. But the AL Central rival Guardians quickly snuffed out hope on Saturday by scoring five times before recording an out in the first. Tanner Bibee and four relievers then held the Tigers to just four hits, with none coming after the fifth.

"We don't get caught up in recency stuff," Hinch said. "I understand yesterday didn't go our way, and we had a number of strikeouts (13), and we had a hard time scoring. We didn't score. But we're not too far removed from the most electric inning offensively to even get us to this point."

Tigers players have echoed their skipper's feelings over the last few days and seem loose ahead of Game 2.

"We feel the same kind of freedom," said rookie outfielder Wenceel Pérez, who's 2-for-6 this postseason. "You have to stay in the fight. You have to stay together. We just try to keep pushing the way that we've been doing it. They played a pretty good game the first game, and I think we can do a better job with the offense in the next game."