DETROIT -- For years, Kids Run the Bases has been a Sunday postgame tradition at Comerica Park. It took A.J. Hinch just over half a season as Tigers manager to turn it into an in-game offensive weapon.

“It’s exciting, and it always keeps pressure on the other team,” said rookie center fielder Derek Hill, the enthusiasm evident in his voice amidst his first extended stretch as a regular in Detroit’s lineup. “They can never just take a breath and take a step back. We’re always applying pressure, and I think that’s why Detroit baseball is so exciting to watch."

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It’s the type of attack that Comerica Park was arguably designed for when it opened 21 years ago, its vast outfield gaps placing a premium on speed and athleticism. As the Tigers head towards the stretch run of their 2021 season, they arguably have their best team to take advantage of it.

They used it mercilessly for three games this weekend to gain revenge on a division rival. A week after the Twins swept the Tigers at Target Field by exposing Detroit’s bullpen-depth issues, the Tigers used their strengths to turn the tables in a rain-shortened three-game series at Comerica Park, culminating with Sunday’s 7-0 win.

In the process, they continued to establish their identity. These Tigers aren’t going to outslug opponents often as they’re currently constructed. They’ll gain home run power when Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson arrive, and potentially add muscle via free agency and trades. But with Hill and Akil Baddoo in the same lineup, bookending the batting order, these Tigers have the athleticism to create offense against quality pitching and pull out low-scoring games their pitching provides.

It’s a different style than Hinch built in Houston, but it’s built around the same concept of pressure.

“When we have an athletic team, we’re going to play an athletic brand of baseball,” Hinch said. “I think when we see more success coming with it, it’s more exciting for everybody that follows our team. It’s a brand of winning baseball when we can put pressure on our opponent.

“You see us doing a few more small-ball things than a lot of people are used to. The players are doing a phenomenal job of taking the information and executing it out on the field, and success helps breed future success."

A day after Baddoo fell just shy of elite speed on Statcast while running out a bases-clearing triple, he crossed the threshold on an infield single to lead off Sunday’s attack, topping out at 30.2 feet per second. The Twins had their infield shifted, but he essentially outran the play, beating pitcher J.A. Happ to first base. Baddoo, who didn’t start against Happ last week in Minnesota, then reached 29.6 feet per second for his team-high 14th stolen base of the season.

Happ stranded Baddoo at second, but Jake Rogers’ leadoff double and Hill’s bunt single put the Tigers back on the move in a three-run third. Hill dashed down the first-base line at 30.3 feet per second, leaving Happ with no play as Rogers moved to third base for Jonathan Schoop’s sacrifice fly.

Hill reached elite sprint speed again to swipe second for his sixth stolen base in 11 Major League games this season. With Hill in scoring position, Miguel Cabrera -- whose bloop single scored Schoop for the game-winning hit Saturday night -- needed only a single through the left side to drive in Hill on Sunday.

Baddoo’s speed turned a slow dribbler up the middle into a leadoff single in the fifth. Schoop’s 418-foot drive to the left-field seats three pitches later allowed Baddoo to trot home. Jeimer Candelario’s two-run homer in the seventh put any thoughts of a Twins rally off Detroit’s bullpen out of reach.

Not since Austin Jackson and Rajai Davis in 2014 -- just before Statcast -- have the Tigers had this type of outfield speed. Once Daz Cameron returns from the injured list, Detroit could boast three outfielders with elite speed to mix with Robbie Grossman, who gets more out of his legs and instincts than his speed numbers would suggest.

It’s a risky style, but the Tigers are using analytics and data to find and exploit matchups.

“It changes your opportunities,” Hinch said. “Nothing against the team that we had early in the season, but we weren’t fast. We didn’t have the athleticism. I didn’t have the risk tolerance to start runners that are below average. When you have above-average speed, you’ve got to use it to your advantage.

“There’s going to be a point in my Tiger career where we don’t have as much speed maybe, and we can’t run as much. But right now, the best way for our team to crawl back and get towards .500 is this style of baseball. It’s obviously fun when you have success in it, but it takes attention to detail in areas that are not always noticeable."