Tigers working through 'necessity' bullpen games with starter injuries 

CLEVELAND -- Pause for a moment, jostle the memory banks, and remember when the Tigers opened the season with essentially six starters. They had a solid five-man rotation, plus Matt Manning on call for doubleheaders as the 27th player.

That was three months ago. As manager A.J. Hinch trudged to the Progressive Field mound in Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to the Guardians to take the ball from Joey Wentz and hand it to Will Vest, it might as well have been three years.

“Bullpen games are hard,” Hinch said. “Our guys fought hard.”

What was once a group of six viable, healthy big league starters is down to half that due to injuries. While the Tigers entered Tuesday with a chance to get to .500 this late in a season for the first time since 2016, they did so with the first of two scheduled bullpen games in three days. The quintet of Tyler Holton, Alex Faedo, Wentz, Vest and Shelby Miller did well under the circumstances, but three home runs proved difficult to overcome despite a furious late comeback.

Bullpen games can be productive, throwing opposing lineups off-balance. For instance, Detroit threw a different pitcher at José Ramírez for each of his five at-bats. He still had two hits, including a fifth-inning solo homer off Wentz and a sixth-inning, two-out RBI single off Vest for what turned out to be the deciding run.

As an occasional experiment, it can be effective. It becomes more challenging as a regular turn in a rotation, as it did when the Tigers moved Kenta Maeda to the bullpen and lost Casey Mize to a hamstring injury in the days before the All-Star break. Two bullpen games in three days is another challenge, especially against the same opponent.

“I don’t think this will be the configuration for too long,” Hinch said, “but it is a necessity right now. Playing these guys six [times in] nine games, maybe that’s a good reason to be unpredictable.”

It’s not a preferred option. Manning would’ve been a logical option to slot in once Reese Olson went on the injured list with a shoulder strain, but Manning went on the injured list at Triple-A Toledo with a lat strain.

The Mud Hens rotation is down to No. 13 prospect Brant Hurter (6.44 ERA in 18 games), No. 21 prospect Lael Lockhart (5.67 in 10 games after midseason promotion from Double-A Erie), Bryan Sammons (4.33 ERA in 16 starts after signing as a Minor League free agent) and No. 5 prospect Ty Madden, who has a 9.24 ERA in 13 Triple-A starts after giving up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings Tuesday night.

Maeda could be an option to rejoin Detroit’s rotation after showing a velocity boost in two bullpen-game appearances. But given the Guardians’ strength in left-handed and switch-hitters, Hinch would like to keep him away from Cleveland, which got to Maeda for 13 runs over 4 1/3 innings in two starts this season, including six runs in the game that pushed Maeda out of the rotation.

Thus, the Tigers are trying to thread a needle this week by mixing and matching relievers and playing matchups at Progressive Field. Ironically, they do so amidst a stretch in which they’re trying to continue momentum and climb close enough to contention to give president of baseball operations Scott Harris a reason not to sell off at next week’s Trade Deadline.

Two of Detroit’s three current healthy starters are potential trade pieces. Jack Flaherty will have scouts following him when he starts Wednesday at Progressive Field. He’s on a one-year contract, and the Tigers are expected to deal him if they can get a better prospect return than the compensation pick at the end of the first round that they’d get if he rejects a qualifying offer and leaves as a free agent.

Tarik Skubal is the much-ballyhooed wild card, an AL Cy Young favorite potentially available if a prospect-rich team like the Orioles or Dodgers overwhelms the Tigers with a high-level package that could address offensive needs and make Detroit better for 2025 and beyond. But the cost of selling big and stocking up for next year could mean a devastated rotation for the stretch run of 2024, reliant on short-term help at least to fill innings.

Tigers players aren’t thinking that far ahead. Their fighting spirit remains, even if nearly half their rotation does not.

“Everybody’s focused,” Zach McKinstry said. “The last three weeks have been awesome to be a part of. This team has been fighting super hard to get back into this race, and it’s a lot of fun.”