DETROIT: Nelson Cruz sliced a two-run homer for his latest big postseason hit as the Baltimore Orioles swept aside Detroit’s Cy Young pitching award winners to hold off the Tigers 2-1 Sunday and reach the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1997.

Bud Norris outpitched David Price in Game 3 of the AL Division Series. The Tigers scored in the ninth and put the tying run on second with no outs, but Orioles closer Zach Britton escaped the jam and lifted Buck Showalter into his first ALCS in 16 seasons as a big league manager.

Baltimore opens the ALCS on Friday at home against the Kansas City Royals, who beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-3 to complete a sweep of their AL Division Series.

Back in the playoffs for the first time since 1985, the wild-card Royals went 4-3 against the Orioles this year.

Cruz’s homer was the 16th of his postseason career, including eight against the Tigers. He was the MVP of the 2011 ALCS for Texas in a six-game victory over Detroit.

Cruz spent much of this past offseason without a team after serving a 50-game suspension last year for violating baseball’s drug agreement.

Norris allowed just two hits over 6 1-3 innings, and Andrew Miller got five straight outs to keep the shutout going.

Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez opened the ninth with back-to-back doubles off Britton. Bryan Holaday struck out after a failed bunt attempt, and Showalter made the unconventional decision to put the winning run on base by intentionally walking Nick Castellanos.

Cruz led the majors with 40 homers this season, and the Orioles topped baseball with 211. It was his two-run homer in the first inning of the opener that set the tone for this series, and he came through again in the sixth inning against Price. Cruz’s drive cleared the wall in right, about 2 feet to the left of the foul pole.

Later, Alex Gordon hit a bases-clearing double in the first inning, and Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas each homered to help Kansas City to the win.

The Royals’ James Shields allowed homers to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols over six otherwise solid innings. C.J. Wilson failed to escape the first for Los Angeles, giving up all three runs on Gordon’s tone-setting double.

The Angels are the second team in the divisional era to have the majors’ best record and get swept from the playoffs. The Yankees were also swept by the Royals in 1980 ALCS.