It's not easy to change in baseball. But that's what the Detroit Tigers did, amazingly
HOUSTON — Let's see, there was the strikeout to end the second inning, giving the Detroit Tigers’ second pitcher of the game a chance to get to the third inning, and face Jose Altuve — Brenan Hanifee struck him out.
There was the double-play grounder with two runners on in the fourth, when the Tigers’ third pitcher of the game — Brant Hurter — fooled Jeremy Peña.
A moment, said A.J. Hinch, that’ll be “glossed over,” in the recounting — and retelling — of the day the Tigers vanquished the Houston Astros.
Wait, there are more. Too many, in fact. At least too many to list here. But then that’s the point of these Tigers, who arrive at every ballpark with little idea who is going to do what ... when.
And who will make the play.
Andy Ibáñez made the play during the Tigers' wild-card series-clinching win at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday afternoon. His play, though, doesn’t happen without so many of his teammates’ plays, and that’s really the point (not to mention the strategy and the structure) behind this improbable baseball story.
Ibáñez, it should be noted, has an improbable story himself. A 31-year-old by way of Cuba who didn’t make it to the majors until he was 28. A right-handed infielder who hadn’t driven in a run in almost a month and who’d managed two RBIs in his past 48 at-bats.
He started Game 1. Sat for Game 2. Knew he’d get called to the plate at some point. Just had no idea when, so he took to the cages in the second inning to prepare for the moment, and for when Houston used a left-hander.
He was ready, eh?
How could he not be? He’s a Tiger, and it’s what manager A.J. Hinch and his staff have asked all of them to do:
Buy in.
Not just buy in, but set aside a bit of ego and a bit more of pride. Never an easy task in any team sport, but a tougher task in baseball, where the game can read like a group of independent contractors who happen to share the same geographical region and fashion sense.
Baseball is unique that way. A team sport, obviously, but one that is individualistic, too, where two players largely control the narrative in any given moment. Two players who are on their own islands: the pitching mound and the batter’s box.
And so, players tend to want roles. Hinch asked his guys to forget those roles, at least in the traditional sense. Which is to say, he asked them to trust him. Because trust leads to freedom. For the manager and, Hinch hoped, for the team.
Beating the Astros, said Hinch, “was an incredible series for us and microcosm of our season. We've come from behind. We've fought. We've played 27 outs. All the things that a manager can be proud of, our team exemplifies. So, I think getting this group, getting their buy-in, getting their trust, getting their willingness to do anything allows us to make a ton of decisions during the game to win the game.”
A ton?
That’s an understatement. Hinch used seven pitchers Wednesday ... on purpose. He wanted one guy for an inning, or a guy for an out, or a guy for a specific situation. Every time a pitcher on this team — except for AL Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal — heads to the mound, he knows it’s because the Hinch-the-tinkerer has a matchup in mind.
Play the percentages: Righty versus lefty. Or vice versa.
“Going into today,” left-handed reliever Sean Guenther said, “I didn't know if I was going to go into that lefty pocket in the third or the eighth or whenever. I just had to stay ready. ... I think that's kind of a microcosm of our entire team. You have guys who might not be starting the game, but they know they're going to get a big at-bat. You have long-relief-starter, bulk-inning guys like Hurter (who are) like, ‘I know I'm throwing today. I know I'm going to throw meaningful innings today. When is that coming?’”
This isn’t easy. Mostly because it’s not always the norm. For pitchers or for hitters.
Consider that the best hitter on the team didn’t start in Game 1, and that when Kerry Carpenter saw that lineup card, he didn’t think twice. Carpenter doesn’t hit lefties as well as some other Tigers. And so Hinch finds Carpenter the best spot, as he does — or tries to do — for everyone in the clubhouse.
Ibáñez had struggled for the month of September? So what?
Get to the on-deck circle and win the series for us. Ibáñez didn’t doubt he was ready for the moment.
“We have this connection,” he said, “this togetherness that makes us like a band of brothers all together supporting one another, and we push for each other and keep working and working and working all the time just to get the results.”
And so, yeah, the plays can get glossed over. Because the plays keep happening. And the players keep coming. And one marvelous effort fades into the next.
Do you even remember the Gumby-stretching grab down the left-field line in the first, when third baseman Zach McKinstry stole a double from Altuve?
Or the grounder Beau Brieske coaxed from Yordan Alvarez in the sixth, an inning-ending double play?
Brieske was the fourth pitcher of the day, by the way, and his appearance was three innings earlier than in Game 1, when he trotted in from the bullpen to close.
Whiplash?
Nah.
Brieske can throw in any inning. Just as Guenther can. Just as Hunter can — a long reliever who got five of the biggest outs of the game. Long relievers traditionally eat innings, usually in games in which their teams are trailing — they don’t tend to get the ball in tied postseason games.
But then these are the Tigers, where everyone can expect to step onto the field when it matters. And where everyone is expected to contribute. This didn’t happen accidentally. It happened when one of the more interesting minds in baseball asked his team to take an unconventional ride with him.
“Buy-in's not for free,” said Hinch. “You've got to get players to understand the bigger goal. You've got to get players to understand how we're going to maximize their strengths. You've got to have players that will give up something in order for them to — for another person to have an opportunity. That's on the mound, that's on defense.”
And?
“I think our players understand it's not about the player I'm taking off the field. It's not about Zach McKinstry, who I pinch-hit for. It's about Andy Ibáñez's immense strength against left-handed pitching. It's not about taking (Carpenter) off the field. It's about putting (Justyn Henry-Malloy) in.”
Because?
“If you can switch the psyche and maybe take a tick of the pride and ego out of it, anything's possible. You can make decisions that put guys in a position to be successful.”
Where this leads from here is a question no one can answer just yet. But as Hinch told his soaking team in the celebratory clubhouse in Houston on Wednesday, somebody let the Tigers get hot.
And when that happens?
“You perform on the highest stage,” he said, and “that strengthens that belief that we're going to try to chase every strength we can.”
How’s that for buy-in?