DETROIT -- The electronic board over the left-field seats at Comerica Park read 36 degrees as Tigers coach Ramon Santiago took his infielders out for early work Thursday morning. The weather for the Tigers' home opener was cold enough for hitters to stay in the batting cages for their pregame swings, but Santiago wanted his defense to work in the conditions.

Considering the work they put in for the first week of the season, they could’ve been justified in a morning off.

“They play the game, and they play hard,” manager Ron Gardenhire said prior to Thursday's game. “They’re grasping this analytics stuff defensively. I think you saw us make some plays where we put them in the right area. They made some plays that were huge, none bigger than [Josh] Harrison’s [Wednesday] in the ninth. They’re grasping that stuff and they enjoy it and they’re all buying in, which is really important.”

The Tigers made one of the largest jumps in the number of infield shifts last season, from 470 in 2017 to 1,021 last year, according to Statcast. More importantly, they made the most of their shifts, with 31 Defensive Runs Saved in the shift, according to the Bill James Handbook.

Through seven games entering Thursday, they’re right on that same pace with 50 total shifts, or 20.6 percent of plate appearances. One key difference, though, is that they’ve increased their shifts against right-handed hitters, moving their second baseman closer to the bag or even shaded toward the left side of the infield.

Such was the case at the end of Sunday’s 11-inning win at Toronto, when second baseman Niko Goodrum was playing up the middle on Teoscar Hernandez. The extra couple steps allowed him to snag Hernandez’s soft liner just to the left of second, stranding runners at the corners for a 4-3 win.

“There was a little hook [on the ball], but it was all good,” Goodrum said after the game.

Two days later, the Tigers didn’t have an all-out shift on Yankees left-handed hitter Mike Tauchman, but they had shortstop Jordy Mercer shaded toward the middle, which made Tauchman's ground ball behind second base look relatively easy for the second out of the ninth inning in a 3-1 victory.

On Wednesday, the Tigers had a shift on Yankees left-handed hitter Greg Bird, putting Harrison -- the second baseman on the play -- deep in the hole and in position for a diving stop on Bird’s hard-hit grounder leading off the ninth. The ball was hit hard enough for a .660 expected batting average, but instead became Shane Greene’s first out for a clean inning and a 2-1 win.

Jimenez surprised by Voit reaction

All-Star setup man Joe Jimenez said he didn’t make anything of Luke Voit’s reaction to his hit-by-pitch or the ensuing unassisted double play that ended the eighth inning of Tuesday’s win. Jimenez said he clearly wasn’t trying to hit the Yankees first baseman in a game that was tied 1-1 at the time. The scouting report suggested pitching him inside, and he simply lost the pitch in on Bird's left hand.

As for Jimenez’s run with the ball from the mound to first base after catching Gleyber Torres’ comebacker, Jimenez said he was pumped to get a big out and decided not to risk throwing it to first baseman John Hicks. Voit seemed to react to Jimenez’s hop onto the bag for the third out.

“If I threw it, it would’ve ended up in the seats,” Jimenez said of his adrenaline.

Gardy quote of the day

“It is special, and we talk to the players about this, 'Don’t take it for granted, because you never know, it might be your last.' ” -- Gardenhire on the Tigers’ home opener, which this year came in their eighth game of the season