“Someone got the Tigers hot.”

The Tigers are at the forefront.

For the second time in six days, they sprayed champagne and beer Wednesday night in Houston, where they beat the Astros with a 5-2 win in Game 2 at Minute Maid Park.

“When we started this series, everyone said we weren't playoff tested,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch told the team in the visiting clubhouse just as the celebrations began.

“We just passed the biggest test of the year so far, but there’s more to come.”

“I’m not sure who, but someone got the Tigers hot.”

Hinch, of course, recalled one of the Tigers' most memorable lines of the year, when catcher Jake Rogers told reporters, “Don't let the Tigers get hot.”

That was back when the Tigers were still a pipe dream of a playoff team. Now they travel on to Cleveland to face the Guardians in the American League Division Series. The best-of-five series begins on Saturday.

Wednesday's win gave the Tigers their first playoff series victory since 2013 and ended the Astros' streak of making it to the American League Championship Series for a seventh straight season.

Hinch led the Astros from 2015 to 2019 and won a World Series, albeit a tainted one, in 2017. He was fired after the 2019 season as part of the fallout from the sign-stealing scandal. The Tigers hired him in 2021.

“Isn't baseball great?” Hinch said on the field with an ABC reporter after Wednesday's win. “It's unbelievable.”

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