[ad_1]
DETROIT — The chess match began on Tuesday night when Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch informed the Cleveland Guardians that rookie right-hander Keider Montero would start Game 3 on Wednesday.
It continued Wednesday morning when the Guardians unveiled the lineup that they would normally use against right-handed pitching.
It even continued in warmups when Montero prepared as if he would make a normal start.
Then the fun really began.
Montero, after an exhaustive pre-game routine, threw just six pitches.
After the Tigers pivoted to left-handed pitcher Brant Hurter, the Guardians countered.
Will Brennan was lifted for pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel in the second inning before his first plate appearance. David Fry pinch-hit for Kyle Manzardo in the third inning.
In playoff baseball, all the normal rules are out the window. The Tigers walked Guardians star Jose Ramirez in the top of the third. The Guardians walked Tigers slugger Kerry Carpenter in the bottom of the inning.
“The aggressiveness out of the manager’s chair has only increased over the years,“ Hinch said.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said the Tigers’ quick switch was not subterfuge. It was almost expected. The Guardians had a plan for how they would respond; it just didn’t work.
“Nothing that happened today caught us off guard,” Vogt said. “We were prepared for all of it. We took our shots when we had the opportunity to put some runs up, placed some bets and then just didn’t come through.”
Hinch said the goal on both sides of the chess match is to manufacture favorable matchups. So when the Guardians got an opportunity to get Noel against Hurter, he wasn’t surprised when they seized it — even if it was only the second inning.
“I understand,” he said. “We’re trying to move our players around and put them in good positions. So are they. You need your guy to beat their guy in those moments.”
One peculiarity of the Tigers’ plan is that Montero wasn’t informed of it beforehand. So he wasn’t merely playing a role when he warmed before the game. He really was planning to pitch a traditional start.
After Montero pitched a 1-2-3 first inning — expending only six pitches — Hinch pulled him aside to offer his appreciation and let him know he didn’t do anything wrong. He pulled third base coach Joey Cora into the conversation to make sure his message was effectively conveyed in Spanish.
“I wanted him to know that he did a hell of a job getting through his three outs,” Hinch said. “Three up, three down against the top of that lineup, including a couple of All-Stars, is a great accomplishment. He’s built to start and go extended (innings). That just wasn’t the route we were going to go today. I wanted to tell him why and tell him he did a great job.”
With a couple of key bench pieces expended early on, it made it easier for Hinch to navigate the Guardians’ lineup in the late innings.
After Hurter survived 3 1/3 innings, right-hander Beau Brieske retired all three batters he faced, striking out six.
The rest of the game played out nicely: A pocket of left-handed hitters was turned over to southpaw Sean Guenther; righty Will Vest handled the heart of the order; and lefty Tyler Holton closed the game against another lefty pocket.
Hinch may have made the right moves, but it was his players who executed them. Tigers’ pitchers have thrown 20 straight scoreless innings against the Guardians in this series.
“When I saw the lineup they put out, I kind of knew that was how it was going to unfold,” Hurter said. “And it’s pretty cool that A.J. was able to make that happen.”
As Hinch has said before, players have responded well to playoff baseball because they’ve been playing playoff-style baseball since mid-August.
“We’ve been doing this for a couple of months,“ he said. ”Our guys did an incredible job of getting up, getting ready and getting their hitters out, almost perfectly.”
[ad_2]
Source link
