HOUSTON -- The Tigers came within nine outs of turning manager A.J. Hinch¡¯s self-professed ¡°pitching chaos¡± into their first postseason series win since 2013. Instead, they turned batting chaos into a comeback and a sweep of their American League Wild Card Series.

And with Wednesday¡¯s 5-2 win at Minute Maid Park, fueled by Andy Ibáñez's pinch-hit bases-clearing double off closer Josh Hader, the Tigers ended the Astros¡¯ run of seven consecutive trips to the AL Championship Series. They did it with Houston¡¯s former manager, whose transition into mad scientist -- with pitching changes and pinch-hits -- has turned baseball¡¯s youngest team into a sudden postseason force.

¡°I don¡¯t know who,¡± Hinch told his team before popping champagne bottles in the visitors' clubhouse, ¡°but somebody let the Tigers get hot.¡±

The Tigers will face the AL Central-rival Guardians in a best-of-five AL Division Series beginning Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.

Nobody on the hitting side better exemplifies the way Hinch plays matchups than Ib¨¢?ez, the only player age 30 or older on Detroit¡¯s 26-man WC Series roster. Claimed from Texas two years ago, the right-handed-hitting infielder spent all season in a specific role: Beat left-handed pitching. Sometimes that meant a spot in the lineup against lefty starters. Other times, it involved waiting on the bench for a matchup against a lefty reliever, which is where he found himself Wednesday.

It worked brilliantly for much of the season, but Ib¨¢?ez went 7-for-45 with two RBIs over his final 24 games after Aug. 28. His last RBI came Sept. 10. Still, amidst Detroit¡¯s late-season charge, he got the opportunities.

¡°His confidence is key for us,¡± Hinch said, ¡°but our confidence in him is equally important. This is how we¡¯ve done it all year. This isn't a different style because we're in the playoffs or chasing a win.¡±

While right-hander and native Detroiter Hunter Brown chewed through the Tigers' lefty-heavy lineup for six innings Wednesday -- his lone blemish coming on a Parker Meadows solo homer in the top of the sixth -- Ib¨¢?ez prepared for closer Josh Hader. Though Houston¡¯s bullpen had two other southpaws in Caleb Ferguson and Bryan King, plus potential Game 3 starter Yusei Kikuchi, Hader was the big worry.

¡°I was getting ready from the second inning,¡± Ib¨¢?ez said through translation from Tigers manager of Spanish communications Carlos Guillen. ¡°We were talking about, ¡®Let's go to the cages. Let's get ready, because at some point in the game, they're going to bring a lefty.¡¯¡±

No hitter on the Tigers prepares for situations like Ib¨¢?ez, who has been known to stand at the top of the dugout steps with a bat with his spot several batters away, just so he can time a pitcher. He once photobombed a Tarik Skubal in-game interview early this season by walking into a camera angle, bat in hand.

While Ib¨¢?ez and Wenceel P¨¦rez prepared in the cages, opener Tyler Holton led a procession of four relievers through six scoreless innings, including five outs from Game 1 closer Beau Brieske to protect a 1-0 lead. No. 2 prospect Jackson Jobe entered for the seventh in his third Major League appearance, but a hit-by-pitch, a Jeremy Pe?a single and a Mauricio Dub¨®n bunt single loaded the bases for a Jonathan Singleton RBI and a Jose Altuve sac fly.

• Tigers turn 'pitching chaos' into a recipe for postseason success

Sean Guenther, the Tigers¡¯ third lefty of the afternoon, prevented further damage with a Kyle Tucker double play to end the seventh that loomed larger once Kerry Carpenter and Matt Vierling hit back-to-back one-out singles off Ryan Pressly in the top of the eighth. Pressly¡¯s wild pitch in the dirt to Riley Greene bounced to the backstop as Carpenter dashed home with the tying run.

Hinch left the switch-hitting P¨¦rez out of the lineup to have him as a matchup-proof pinch-hitter. P¨¦rez was springing out of the dugout to bat for Spencer Torkelson following Colt Keith¡¯s two-out walk when the Astros turned to Hader.

¡°Against Pressly, we were going to try to get as many lefties as we could, see if we could get a spinning breaking ball,¡± Hinch said. ¡°I was pulling Tork back to make the decision as Joe was walking out. When Hader came in, it changed the order in which we were going to go. I put Wenceel back on the bench, and it went Tork and Ib¨¢?ez for the two at-bats.¡±

Torkelson drew a four-pitch walk, loading the bases and bringing Ib¨¢?ez out of the dugout to pinch-hit for Zach McKinstry.

Hader fired five consecutive sinkers; Ib¨¢?ez fouled off three and took another for a ball, timing it up. The fifth was just high enough for Ib¨¢?ez to rip into the left-field corner.

¡°As soon as I made the contact, I was just pushing for the ball to be fair,¡± Ib¨¢?ez said. ¡°Most importantly, I was pushing for the runners on the base to go, go, go, go, go.

¡°As soon as I got to second base, I saw the Tigers fans on top of our dugout, and it was a very touching and emotional moment.¡±

It was the Tigers¡¯ first go-ahead pinch-hit base hit in postseason history, and it sealed Detroit¡¯s first playoff win when trailing in the eighth inning since Game 3 of the 1987 ALCS, when Pat Sheridan hit a two-run homer off the Twins' Jeff Reardon.

Ib¨¢?ez¡¯s hit, coming so quickly after Detroit lost the lead, felt bigger. And not just because it ended Houston¡¯s 47-game postseason winning streak when leading going into the eighth inning.

¡°We have good players out here,¡± Ib¨¢?ez said. ¡°Most importantly, we have this connection, this togetherness that makes us like a band of brothers all together supporting one another, and we push for each other and keep working all the time just to get the results.¡±