Infielder makes 3-run error then surrenders 3-run homer in 'mess of an inning'

DETROIT -- One of baseball’s common refrains is to move on to the next play after making an error. But what happens when moving on includes a move from the infield to the mound?

“Well, not walking a guy and giving up a homer,” said a half-joking Tigers utilityman Zach McKinstry, who found himself in that position in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park. “It’s definitely not how you do it.”

It wasn’t penance for McKinstry, but a bizarre set of circumstances -- including an admitted managerial mistake -- that led him from a three-run error at third base to pitching against the next three hitters in the Tigers’ 11-5 loss to the Twins in 12 innings.

McKinstry played the entire game, starting at shortstop, then shifting to third when Javier Báez entered at short for the 11th inning. The Tigers were on their fourth pitcher at that point, stretching closer Jason Foley for a second inning of work in hopes of giving Detroit a chance at a win.

Both teams scored a run in the 11th, sending the game to the 12th and Detroit to former closer Alex Lange.

Lange walked in a run, but he struck out back-to-back hitters and was a strike away from sending a one-run game to the bottom of the 12th. He and Twins DH Ryan Jeffers battled for 12 pitches, including six foul balls after an 0-2 count.

With a full count and runners on the move, Lange threw his 36th pitch of the inning, a curveball that Jeffers hit on the ground to third. The ball hopped under McKinstry’s glove as he shifted over and it rolled to the left-field corner as the bases cleared.

“Played myself into a bad hop,” McKinstry said of the error. “Got a little too aggressive on it, maybe should’ve retreated a little bit. It just took a weird hop on me.”

The play ballooned the Twins’ lead to 8-4. With a four-run game in extras, Lange nearing 40 pitches and the Tigers still looking at another nine-inning game to follow, manager A.J. Hinch contemplated using a position player to pitch. Normally by rule, a four-run game would be too close for that, but in extra innings, a position player can pitch regardless of the score.

Out came Hinch to let Lange know that Manuel Margot would be his last hitter. But since that was the Tigers’ second mound visit of the inning -- pitching coach Chris Fetter had visited three batters earlier after the bases-loaded walk -- Hinch had to take out Lange immediately.

“The 12th was a mess of an inning, and I messed up,” said Hinch, who had started walking back to the dugout when home-plate umpire CB Bucknor let him know. “I wanted to go tell Lange that I was bringing in a position player after one more batter, so I asked CB if I had a visit.

“He took it to mean the visits [remaining for the game], and Fetter had gone what felt like forever ago [out to the mound]. So, I screwed that up totally.”

The position player was McKinstry, who pitched in a game for the Tigers last year. McKinstry knew that with Zack Short gone, he was the likely option if the Tigers needed a position player to pitch this season. He just didn’t know it was then and there.

“I had no idea,” he said with a laugh. “A.J. came out and he was like, ‘Hey, Z-Mac, you’re going to pitch.’ I’m like, ‘Sure, whatever you need.’”

McKinstry, whose limited arsenal ranges between 50 and 68 mph, walked Margot before Matt Wallner hit a slider for a three-run homer. McKinstry finally got the last out by retiring Byron Buxton.

“Just a long game,” McKinstry said.