Luis Tiant, the charismatic Cuban with a horseshoe mustache and mesmerizing windup who pitched the Boston Red Sox to the brink of a World Series championship and himself to the doorstep of the Hall of Fame, died Tuesday at his home in Maine. He was 83.

Known as “El Tiante,” Tiant was a three-time All-Star whose greatest individual season came in 1968 with Cleveland, when he went 21-9 with 19 complete games and nine shutouts — four of them in a row. But it was his 1.60 ERA — the best in the AL in half a century — that, combined with Bob Gibson’s 1.12 mark in the NL, helped convince baseball to lower the pitching mound to give batters more of a chance.

Tiant again won the AL ERA title with a 1.91 mark in 1972.

The son of a Negro Leagues star, the younger Tiant was 229-172 in all with a 3.30 ERA and 2,416 strikeouts. He had 187 complete games and 47 shutouts in a 19-year career spent mostly with Cleveland and Boston.

In the 1975 World Series — still considered one of the greatest in baseball history — Tiant’s Red Sox faced the Cincinnati Reds.

Tiant won Game 1, shutting out the Reds. He threw 155 pitches in a complete game victory in Game 4 and was back on the mound for eight innings of Game 6, which Boston won on Carlton Fisk’s home run in the bottom of the 12th.

After his retirement, Tiant was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame but never made the national shrine in Cooperstown, New York, receiving a high of 30.9% of the votes in 1988, his first year on the ballot.

BLACK RETURNING AS ROCKIES SKIPPER >> The Colorado Rockies are bringing back Bud Black, the franchise’s all-time winningest manager, for another season on the heels of a sixth straight losing campaign.

The Rockies extended Black through 2025. The deal was finalized just over a week after concluding a season in which the Rockies finished 61-101. It was the second-worst mark in baseball, behind only the Chicago White Sox (41-121).

Colorado hasn’t been to the postseason since 2018.

The 67-year-old Black became the seventh manager in franchise history on Nov. 7, 2016. Known for his relatability to players, the former major league pitcher instantly turned around a scuffling franchise, going 87-75 in 2017 before losing in the NL wild-card game. The Rockies reached the postseason again in 2018 after finishing second in the NL West.

Black is 537-657 over his eight seasons with Colorado.

Prior to his time in the Mile High City, Black went 649-713 in nine seasons with the San Diego Padres. He was the 2010 NL manager of the year.

Black pitched in parts of 15 seasons for Seattle (1981), Kansas City (1982-88), Cleveland (1988-90), Toronto (1990), the Giants (1991-94) and again with Cleveland (1995). The left-hander finished 121-116 with a 3.84 ERA.

ROYALS playing long-awaited home game >> Salvador Perez remembers what it was like when playoff baseball returned to Kansas City after nearly 30 years of dark, dismal failures. It seemed to come alive, fans changing their red Chiefs shirts for Royals blue as they packed Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals advanced all the way to the World Series in 2014, losing a Game 7 thriller to the Giants. But they returned the next year and finished the job, winning both World Series games against the Mets at home before clinching the title in New York.

Now, the Royals are ready to play the Yankees tonight in Game 3 of their AL Division Series, the first playoff game at the K since that title run. And Perez, the 34-year-old All-Star catcher whose homer Monday night helped the Royals even the series at a game apiece, will be back to revel in the postseason atmosphere.

“It’s going to be amazing,” he said. “I think we have the best fans in MLB. I think it’s going to be good for everybody.”

The Royals haven’t played a home game in more than two weeks. They finished the regular season with a sweep of the Nationals and a series in Atlanta, where they clinched a playoff spot. Then they headed to Baltimore and swept the wild-card series before landing in New York, where they managed to split two games with the AL East champions.

The Royals have been good at home this season, an 0-6 homestand in late September notwithstanding. But the Yankees should feel good about their chances after taking three of four at Kauffman Stadium during a series in mid-June.

“It should be awesome,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Kauffman Stadium is one of those great, historic places that has stood the test of time. It’s a beautiful ballpark rich in history. So I would imagine they are going to be excited to see their Royals at home, coming on the heels of what’s been an outstanding regular season after some lean years for them.”

TIGERS happy to play host >> The Motor City has not hosted a playoff baseball game in a decade.

The long wait is over.

The Detroit Tigers play the Cleveland Guardians today with their best-of-five AL Division Series tied at one game apiece, ending a drought that has dragged on since 2014.

“There’s a whole generation of kids here that haven’t seen postseason baseball live,” Tigers president of basketball operations Scott Harris said. “Hopefully, they are loud from the very first pitch. I’ve seen the fans help us win games and I’m really excited to see what they can do.”

The AL Central champion Guardians have a player making a long-awaited return to the postseason.

Alex Cobb, who pitched the past two seasons for the Giants, last appeared in the playoffs in 2013 when he started two games for Tampa Bay, a wild-card win against Cleveland and a Division Series loss to Boston.

The 37-year-old righty had hip surgery last Oct. 31 and hadn’t yet returned to the mound when he was acquired from the Giants at the July 30 trade deadline.

The 2023 All-Star made his season debut Aug, 9 and was sidelined after two games by a torn nail on his right index finger. He didn’t allow an earned run over six innings in his Sept. 1 return against Pittsburgh, then went back on the injured list with a blister on his right middle finger that ended his regular season. He was 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA in three games and 16 1/3 innings with the Guardians.