Free passes put Tigers in tough pitching position

DETROIT -- Zach McKinstry had never pitched at the Major League level. There’s no record of him pitching in the Minor Leagues, either. But when the Tigers headed into the ninth inning Saturday down by 10 runs, he was the guy.

“I just tried to throw strikes and not hit anybody,” said McKinstry, whose 84 mph fastball reflected some sort of experience.

A year after Detroit used three position players to pitch, including Kody Clemens seven times, McKinstry became the first Tigers position player to pitch this season. He tossed the ninth inning in Saturday’s 14-5 loss to the Red Sox. It’s not a decision the Tigers wanted or expected to make in their eighth game of the season.

“We went to a position player simply because we have a game [Sunday] and we were down,” manager A.J. Hinch said.

Still, just over a week into the season, the fact that the Tigers went the position-player-pitching route reflects issues with their actual pitchers that need to be fixed, not just for Detroit to have some sort of success this season, but even to simply get the pitching staff through the season.

The Tigers have been outscored by a 32-run margin over the course of their 2-6 start, second only to the A’s among MLB teams. Twenty-two runs of that margin have come at the bookends with a 12-2 loss to the Rays on Opening Day and now Saturday’s defeat.

Long reliever Tyler Alexander has thrown 8 1/3 innings, five outs shy of Opening Day starter Eduardo Rodriguez for the team lead. Detroit has had four starts of at least five innings, but nobody has gone six yet, and only Matt Manning has qualified for a win.

Joey Wentz’s second-inning exit Saturday was the earliest by a Tigers starter this season, and it came seemingly out of nowhere after he retired the top of Boston’s lineup in order on 11 pitches in the opening inning. His 36-pitch second frame unraveled with only one hit, but four walks, including his last three batters -- the 8-9-1 hitters in Boston’s order, the latter two with the bases loaded.

For the outing, he threw just 22 of 47 pitches for strikes. He drew just five called strikes, only one off a pitch other than his fastball.

“I just wasn’t very good,” Wentz said. “I started spraying the ball after what I thought was a decent first. Things fell apart for me in the second. Just a pretty bad day.”

It was an odd unraveling for a left-hander who hit the Tigers’ radar after putting up a 37-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio down the stretch at Double-A Erie in 2019 following his arrival from the Braves in the Shane Greene trade that summer. But it followed a pattern that emerged down the stretch last year amid an otherwise encouraging stretch run in the Tigers’ rotation, having walked nine batters in 15 1/3 innings over his final three starts of ‘22.

“He was throwing some close pitches that could’ve been called, could’ve not been,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “Obviously you want those being called. When you’re kind of all over, you’re not going to get the benefit of the doubt on the edge.”

To pin all the issues on Wentz, however, would be unfair. Garrett Hill replaced him with the bases loaded, fell behind on Rafael Devers, left a changeup in the zone and gave up a grand slam that built a 6-0 lead. A leadoff walk the next inning set up an Adam Duvall two-run homer.

Hill gave up three runs over 3 1/3 innings. Tyler Alexander didn’t walk anybody but eventually wore down over his three-inning performance, allowing four runs on six hits.

That leaves Rule 5 Draft pick Mason Englert as the lone Detroit long reliever who didn’t pitch Saturday. After Sunday’s series finale, the Tigers have an off-day Monday before three games against the slugging Blue Jays in Toronto.

The Tigers could turn to Michael Lorenzen to give the rotation an extra boost, but he lasted just 2 1/3 innings in his rehab start for Triple-A Toledo on Saturday. He left after walking three batters in the third. So when Hinch was asked about possible reinforcements, he focused on who he has.

“First off, I’d like the arms that are here to throw strikes,” Hinch said. “That in itself would put us in a step forward.”