Soto's struggles with consistency resurface in finale

DETROIT -- The slider from Gregory Soto came in biting on Royals rookie sensation Bobby Witt Jr., but not quite as hard as Soto or catcher Tucker Barnhart might have wanted it. It came in at the knees, but out over the plate, where Witt connected for a hard-hit ground ball through the left side for a go-ahead RBI that decided the Tigers’ 3-2 loss Sunday at Comerica Park.

Ideally, third baseman Jeimer Candelario would’ve been able to stop the ball, if not get the out. But the hard contact off the Tigers' closer made for the split-second of difference needed to get the grounder under Candelario’s diving attempt. Soto already got away with an MJ Melendez double three pitches earlier when Javier Báez threw out Nicky Lopez at home plate. He couldn’t get away with another.

It was a rare eighth-inning appearance for Soto, who could’ve been called upon for six outs depending on the situation according to manager A.J. Hinch. But it was also an example of the up-and-down season he has had at the back-end of Detroit’s talented bullpen.

Two days earlier, Soto marched in for the ninth with a 5-4 lead and overpowered Royals hitters with triple-digit fastballs. His four-seamer averaged 100.6 mph according to Statcast and drew four called strikes, including two strikeouts. His slider drew the swing-and-miss from Drew Waters that finished off the win.

“His timing was a little bit better. His strike-throwing was good,” Hinch said the next day. “Whatever’s going to get him in the strike zone.”

Sunday was different stuff in a different situation. He nearly had struck out Lopez, putting him in a 1-2 count, but wasn’t close on three other pitches en route to a costly walk. A pair of sinkers to Melendez weren’t close enough to the zone to draw swings, running the count even and bringing his fastball into the middle of the zone. He sent fastballs past rookie Nick Pratto to prevent further damage, but one run was enough for the Royals' bullpen to finish out the game and take the series.

“We put ourselves in a lot of stressful situations,” Hinch said Sunday. “We were able to escape pretty much all but one, at least with the game on the line. Them taking the lead came in an inning where a couple times they didn’t have to put the ball in play. They came up with a big hit, we didn’t.”

Soto relishes the closer role and the adrenaline that comes with it, and he responded when Hinch named him to the role going into the season after an All-Star campaign as a versatile late-inning reliever in 2021. He said Saturday through Tigers bilingual media coordinator Carlos Guillén that he responded to the team needing him to save the game.

But Hinch still relies on Soto in situations before the ninth on occasion, and Matt Manning’s 33-pitch fourth inning had a domino effect on what has been a well-taxed relief corps.

Soto has held opposing hitters to a .198 average (18-for-91) in save situations, with 12 walks and 27 strikeouts. In non-save situations, opponents are batting .259 (22-for-85) with 15 walks (one intentional) and 22 strikeouts. He actually induced more swings and misses on Sunday, three of them coming on a fastball that was a tick slower than Friday, but his command wasn’t the same.

“It shouldn’t be [different],” Hinch said Saturday. “I think when you go out on the field, you should do 100 percent what you have that day to get through your outs. The saves get counted, moreso than a non-save, in categories that are certainly beneficial to the psyche of a player. But I think anytime you get on a field, you should treat it the same.

“I think getting the last out [Friday] was important for him, but if we had a six-run lead, I’d have expected him to come in and throw strikes and get the last out as well. I don’t care about the save stuff.”

That likely won’t impact Soto’s role; Hinch has stuck with him at the end of the bullpen. But it does reflect Soto’s struggle for consistency in his stuff.