Boyd in All-Star form as Tigers blank O's

BALTIMORE -- The best sign of renewed energy on the Tigers Tuesday was the bounce in Miguel Cabrera’s step. The 36-year-old first baseman slapped hands with his pitcher after retiring Trey Mancini for the last out of the third, then was waving his arms to tell the gathering of Tigers fans behind the visiting dugout at Camden Yards to get loud.

“That guy, he’s the straw that stirs the drink,” starter Matthew Boyd said after the Tigers' 3-0 win over the Orioles. “When he comes out here and he’s loose and he’s talking, guys feed off that.”

The next-best sign was the sight of 6-foot-6 catcher Grayson Greiner running down Jonathan Villar near second base on a pickoff play, something usually seen in only the most thorough of Spring Training drills.

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“I had to show off my speed. I haven’t been on the bases much lately,” Greiner joked.

This did not look like a team that had lost 12 of its previous 13 games, including a mistake-filled loss here on Monday. But while Boyd talked about Cabrera’s impact on the team, and the value of taking the field with the same approach each day regardless of result, Tuesday’s win also said a lot about the impact of Boyd.

If there was any question left where Boyd stands atop an injury-plagued Tigers rotation, and maybe even among American League starters this season, Tuesday was a reminder. On a night when the Tigers needed a lift out of their recent doldrums, Boyd carried them for six-plus scoreless innings. The Tigers didn’t make spectacular plays behind him because they didn’t need to, but they made the good plays look routine.

“We needed to win a ballgame,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Guys feel good about it. They were having fun. It’s a nice win for us.”

On a humid evening at Camden Yards, where fly balls can turn into home runs with surprising ease, Boyd not only dialed up his fastball, he froze Orioles batters with it. He challenged O’s hitters and ramped up his fastball to just under 94 mph for his first turn through Baltimore’s lineup, catching them off guard for three called third strikes and a three-pitch strikeout of Stevie Wilkerson.

“His fastball was jumping,” Gardenhire said. “He has a good feel for it.”

Just as the O’s began gearing up for the fastball, Boyd worked in his slider -- the primary source of his ramped-up strikeout rate this year -- mixed in a curveball and changeup, and sent hitters flailing into the later innings.

"He really pitches in well to right-handers,” said O’s manager Brandon Hyde. “You saw us take a lot of fastball strike threes on the inside black. He has a sweeping slider that dives right at your feet. It starts as a strike and ends up a ball underneath. I watched his last start against Miami, exact same thing.

“He is able to locate in to right-handers really well. Got a nice changeup that he uses on the other side of the plate, so you can’t sit on one side. We just had a tough time.”

Boyd tossed six scoreless innings his previous start against the Marlins, too, racking up seven strikeouts in that no-decision. He has 12 scoreless innings since a spate of five home runs allowed over a three-start stretch.

Though the Orioles put runners on in all but one of Boyd’s innings, he came up with an answer each time. The lone clean inning he had was one of his most impressive of the season, a seven-pitch sprint that featured a pair of three-pitch strikeouts, each ending with a slider for a swing and miss.

“Slider wasn’t the best today,” Boyd said, “but with two other offspeed pitches, we rolled with those and it worked out.”

Boyd could not have done that a couple years ago, when he was primarily a fastball-changeup pitcher. He could not have done that here, not with the high home run rate at Camden Yards.

“This is a hitter’s park. If you keep the ball in the yard here, you have a chance to win,” Greiner said. “Boyd did a great job of keeping the ball down on guys we knew couldn’t elevate.”

None of Baltimore’s six hits off Boyd on Tuesday went for extra bases. His lone walk was a four-pitch free pass leading off his seventh and final inning, setting up his exit a batter later following DJ Stewart’s third hit of the game. With the tying run at the plate, Buck Farmer entered and struck out both batters he faced before Daniel Stumpf extinguished the threat.

Boyd finished with eight strikeouts while lowering his ERA to 2.85. His AL-best Wins Above Replacement, 2.2 entering the night according to Fangraphs, will also receive a well-deserved boost. His 2.5 WAR according to Baseball-Reference is a full win better than any other Tiger this year.

Boyd entered Tuesday averaging 3.18 runs of offensive support per game, fourth-lowest among AL starters. Detroit’s lineup gave him right around that mark Tuesday, but put him in front early with Cabrera's RBI single in the first and JaCoby Jones' RBI double in the third off O’s starter Dylan Bundy.

Niko Goodrum’s insurance run on a leadoff homer in the fifth, a loft out to right at a 44-degree launch angle that carried just over the fence, was a reminder of the dangers that befall pitchers when the ball gets in the air.

Boyd (5-4), despite traffic, never came close to much danger at all. While the Tigers wait for their next crop of young pitchers to make their way up the farm system, they’re benefiting from Boyd’s emergence now. Their payoff later could be either a bridge to their pitching prospects next season or, if the offer is right, a return of prospects from a contending club around the Trade Deadline in July.

That wasn’t a concern Tuesday night. The Tigers were just happy to win.

“It’s been a rough stretch,” Greiner said. “It felt really good to get a win.”