Notebook: Innocuous play had big impact on Tigers’ narrow win
Such an important play. Such an instinctual play. Such an easily overlooked and underappreciated play.
When Tigers manager AJ Hinch talks about how everything matters, go back and review what seemed to be an innocuous play in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, a play that ultimately had no bearing on the final score but had a massive impact on how the final out was recorded in a onerun win.
With two outs, reliever Jason Foley walked Willi Castro. Castro, with righthanded hitting Christian Vazquez at the plate, stole second base. The throw from catcher Carson Kelly rolled into shallow center field. Pause the video.
Three instinctual plays happened at that point that kept Castro from advancing to third base. One, second baseman Colt Keith held his empty tag for a couple of seconds before Castro could figure out where the ball was. Two, center fielder Parker Meadows was already sprinting from deep in the outfield to back up the play. Three, shortstop Javier Báez made a brilliant deke.
Báez, backing up behind the bag, acted like he had the ball and ran at Castro with his empty throwing hand in the air. He completely sold it and Castro retreated to the bag.
“Infielders do that all over the league,” Hinch said. “When it works, it’s nice. You stay in the play as much as you can and good things can happen. It was definitely an instinctual play and Javy is the best at it.”
Castro was already in scoring position, but it could’ve changed how Foley attacked Vazquez if he was on third because of the threat of a passed ball or wild pitch. Foley’s bread and butter is a wicked, upper-90s sinker that can be difficult to catch on pleasant nights, let alone with the temperature hovering just above freezing.
And even if Castro wasn’t fooled by Báez’s deke, Meadows’ hustle to get after the ball in center would have given him a great chance of throwing him out at third.
“One of the things that doesn’t often get talked about is the effort of our outfielders backing up plays,” Hinch said. “Our guys are in position to a man. I say everything matters for a reason. Small details come up huge.”
Welcome Buddy Kennedy
The Tigers officially
placed third baseman Gio Urshela on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a strained right hamstring.
“I felt it like two steps before the bag,” said Urshela, who came up hobbling after he grounded out to second base in the second inning Friday.
He said it was diagnosed as a Grade 1 strain, which is the least severe, and expects to be able to return in two weeks.
“I don’t want to be in this situation,” he said. “But it’s actually not bad, like not really bad.”
To replace him, the Tigers recalled infielder Buddy Kennedy from Triple-A Toledo. He arrived from Rochester, New York, where the Mud Hens are playing, shortly after 11 a.m. Central.
“The wheels were put in motion after the game,” Hinch said. “And obviously we’ve had our own level of injuries on the minor league level, as well. Luckily we have huge depth and Buddy will be here.”
Urshela joins infielder Andy Ibanez (hamstring) on the big-league injured list. And at Toledo, infielders Ryan Kreidler (finger) and Eddys Leonard (oblique) are on the minor league injured list.
Kennedy’s play, though, certainly warranted the call-up. The 25-year-old who has 40 big-league games on his resume with Arizona, was slashing .288/.354/.509 at Toledo with an .862 OPS, two homers and seven doubles.
“He’s been crushing lefties,” Hinch said. “He can play second base and third base. We saw him in spring and he’s got a little bit of time up here. He won’t be overwhelmed. We are very fortunate to have him.”
Hinch said Matt Vierling, Zach McKinstry and Kennedy would share time at third base while Urshela and Ibanez are out.
Hinch and president Scott Harris had a several options available, including bringing up a prospect like outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy (and letting Vierling handle a large load at third base) or infielder Jace Jung. Veteran infielder Ryan Vilade is also producing at Toledo.
“We called up the guy we wanted to call up right now,” Hinch said. “The guy we feel can help this roster the best. We have a lot of options but Buddy was the clear choice.”
Flaherty spindoctoring
Jack Flaherty’s 10-strikeout performance against the Twins Friday night gave him 30 on the season, tied for second-most in the American League. But the way he crafted those punch-outs was more impressive and the quantity.
He crammed them into six innings, for one thing. For another, he deftly paired sliders and a nasty wicked knuckle-curve to disarticulate the Twins’ hitters. He got nine whiffs on 14 swings at his curve, six whiffs on 13 swings at his slider and a total of 19 called strikes.
It was clinical.
“Jack has some of the best feel I think I’ve ever seen in the big leagues,” said Tigers right-hander Casey Mize, who will start the finale of this series Sunday. “Just watching his bullpens between starts, he can throw that curveball in there at like 50 mph and stick it right there. Then he’ll rip one at 80 mph. Some guys have to throw it full speed to get the thing right.
“He has really advanced feel for all that stuff. That curveball was money last night.”
The strikeouts, though, aren’t the endgame for Flaherty. Getting outs, keeping the Tigers in the game and going as deep into the game as he can — those are the priorities.
“It’s more about getting into a rhythm,” he said. “That’s what you want to do, especially when you’ve got some temps like today. Obviously, when they have runners at second and third and nobody out and you get into favorable counts, at that point it’s like, ‘OK, we can go for the punch-out here.’
“But the game will dictate it. I believe strikeouts just kind of happen. You’re not searching for them. At certain points, the game will dictate it.”