DETROIT – If we’ve learned anything about A.J. Hinch during his four seasons as manager of the Detroit Tigers, it’s that he’s always going to stick to what got him here.
He doesn’t believe in intentional walks. He’ll use any reliever in any situation. And most of all: He’s going to hammer lefty-righty matchups at the plate.
Detroit is one of the teams that sees the most drastic day-to-day lineup fluctuation based on opposing starter. When a left-hander is on the mound, Matt Vierling, Gio Urshela, and maybe even an extra catcher (as DH) will be in the lineup. For a righty, you can expect to see Kerry Carpenter, Zach McKinstry, and (lately) Wenceel Perez.
That might frustrate some Tigers fans who want to see what Carpenter or Vierling can do in 150 games. But it’s the way Hinch manages, and it’s not going to change.
That was never more apparent than Tuesday.
Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Tigers and Rangers were tied 2-2, and the Tigers only had three hits. Two of those hits came from Carpenter -- a 104.5 mph double and a 103.9 mph triple. He was locked in.
Nobody in the Tigers’ lineup was swinging the bat well except for Carpenter. But when the Rangers brought in left-handed reliever Jacob Latz, Hinch decided to remove Carpenter anyway.
Vierling came in to give the Tigers a right-on-left matchup, and he dumped a bloop single into right field to put the go-ahead run on third base. Sure, he only hit the ball 63.3 mph (and at first he didn’t even realize he had hit a fair ball), but the move worked.
Urshela smacked a nearly identical hit into right on the next pitch to give the Tigers the lead for good.
Detroit has struggled to score runs all season, and that was the case once again Tuesday. If his move didn’t work, Hinch certainly would have faced criticism for removing the one player who was actually swinging a hot bat.
But either way, Hinch would have stood by his decision, because that’s the way he coaches. Over a 162-game marathon, you have to stick to your guns and trust that you’ll come out ahead.
Sometimes those risks won’t pay off. But this time, it helped the Tigers steal a win.