Hinch shows Tigers' mentality with 1st ejection of '24 in final regular-season game

DETROIT -- A.J. Hinch has never gone an entire season as a Major League manager without getting ejected from a game. He was three outs away from a career first when Zach McKinstry's drive Sunday sent White Sox right fielder Dominic Fletcher to the fence.

“I saw the replay,” McKinstry said. “It looked like it hit the wall.”

Fletcher’s reaction looked a bit nonchalant for a highlight over-the-shoulder catch, and a replay showing him juggling the ball heading into the wall led the Tigers to challenge. After replay review, the call stood, but Hinch did not. Knowing arguing a replay review meant an automatic ejection, he had his say in a heated exchange.

“I just told them: I understand the automatic ejection, but they took a hit away from Z-Mac,” Hinch said after the Tigers’ 9-5 loss to close their regular season at 86-76. “I thought it was pretty clear that it hit the wall. Maybe they didn’t have the right angle, but you could see by the reaction of the right fielder, and I just thought it was an injustice. He deserved a hit.

“Who knows how that inning goes, but defending our team and defending Z-Mac, that was easy.”

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It was a defense that was never going to change anything, except maybe his team’s mindset.

“Every out counts,” McKinstry said. “That’s how we play the game. That’s how we’ve played it all year, and that’s how we’re going to keep playing.”

For two days since the Tigers clinched their first postseason berth in 10 years on Friday night, Hinch talked about playing with the same edge that helped fuel the late-season run that earned them an American League Wild Card spot and a matchup against Houston in the AL Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday.

He talked before Sunday’s game about getting that momentum back, but five White Sox runs off starter Kenta Maeda left them playing catch-up for most of a damp, cloudy afternoon. Kerry Carpenter’s second career grand slam brought them back within a run and ignited another sellout crowd, but the momentum was short-lived.

Sunday’s loss, combined with a Royals win in Atlanta, punched the Tigers’ ticket to Houston rather than Baltimore. But Hinch was more focused on his own team.

“With this team, every day is a test,” Hinch said, “and you have to learn something every day. And I think we’ve learned a couple things the last couple days. Obviously, you can’t play careful. We play a little careful and the game shifts a little bit, and you take a little bit of strategy away from what you’re trying to accomplish saving pitching or getting guys some extra at-bats, and playing just a little off of what the last 160 games have been. You learn something a little bit.”

From openers and bulk pitchers to pinch-hitters to extra bases, the Tigers played playoff-style baseball for the better part of seven weeks. Once they earned a playoff spot, they struggled to re-create that. Strategically, the Tigers used Sunday to get Maeda, Casey Mize and Keider Montero some work and rest their leverage relievers ahead of Tuesday’s series opener. Emotionally, the intensity was there in spots but then flickered off.

“I think we’ll reset and be completely ready to go on Tuesday,” Hinch said. “And when you get to the playoffs, that margin shrinks, the margin between teams. They’re going to look out at Tarik Skubal. We’re going to look out at whoever. But everybody changes, and you’ve got to be ready. We will be.”

The Tigers seem ready to back Skubal -- the AL's pitching Triple Crown winner.

“I don’t think we necessarily took our foot off the gas, even though it probably looked like that,” Carpenter said. “I don’t think anyone was going out there with their foot off the gas. We know that there’s a sense of urgency and you have to play your best to win these games. We’ll be ready.”

They arrived at Comerica Park on Sunday morning with their bags at their lockers but without a destination. As they filed out Sunday evening, heading to Houston, they knew they wanted to come back to Detroit for a home game in the Division Series in eight days.

“I’d love it,” Skubal said. “I really would love it. How do we do that? We’ve gotta beat Houston.”