CLEVELAND — Thirty minutes after the Detroit Tigers weathered another storm, Wenceel Pérez and manager A.J. Hinch hugged while music blared and champagne soared.This is what people do in victorious settings. Everyone embraces with hand slaps and high-fives, bro hugs and beer showers. If you blinked, you would have missed it. But before Pérez went back into the center of the party, filmed himself on Instagram Live and danced the night away, Hinch held that hug a little bit longer. He added a pat on the back. A small affirmation. Pérez did the same.Here they were, the faces of victory. Only two hours before, the manager and his player were the targets of scorn.With his team slumping and squandering opportunities, Hinch reconfigured his lineup before the winner-take-all game of the American League Wild Card Series against the Cleveland Guardians. That meant bumping Parker Meadows from the leadoff spot and elevating Gleyber Torres and Kerry Carpenter. The plan also included moving Pérez up to the No. 3 spot, even though the Tigers’ switch-hitting outfielder had been mired in a brutal slump, going 5-for-56 and yet to record a hit in two postseason games. “I’ve been grinding,” Pérez admitted.But Hinch valued Pérez’s switch-hitting status. He wanted to separate Torres and Spencer Torkelson in hopes of creating more favorable matchups. Pérez’s season track record against left-handed pitching also made him valuable if the Guardians brought in a left-hander to face Kerry Carpenter.Three at-bats in, the decision was bordering on disaster. Pérez struck out with a runner on base in the first inning. He popped up with the bases loaded in the third. He grounded into an inning-ending double play in the fifth.The Tigers at one point were only 3-for-28 with runners in scoring position for the entire series. Their season was teetering and, by the seventh inning, they were clinging to a narrow one-run lead against a Guardians team that can play like sly thieves.