Tigers turn 'pitching chaos' into a recipe for postseason success

HOUSTON -- The question came up to Beau Brieske before Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series: How have the Tigers so effectively embraced the “pitching chaos” that manager A.J. Hinch has deployed since mid-August?

“Not knowing when [you're] going to get called, it is chaos at times,” Brieske said. “So you try to just be ready. The thing that I always tell myself is, ‘You've got to trust that if your name's getting called, there's a reason for it and you're the guy for the situation. You've got to go out there, do your job and that's it. You don't try to make it more than what it is, and you just trust that the next guy's going to pick you up and there's a plan.' It's not just randomness.”

Brieske was in the interview room in lieu of a Game 3 starter because, well, the Tigers didn't have one. Brieske was coming off a two-out save in Game 1 on Tuesday afternoon that included two pitches at 100 mph.

Hours later, as the Tigers celebrated a 5-2 comeback win over the Astros to clinch a Wild Card Series sweep and punch their ticket to the AL Division Series, Sean Guenther -- whose double-play grounder against Kyle Tucker in the seventh was arguably the biggest outs of the game -- was asked the same question.

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“With this team, it comes down to two things: Trust and belief,” the lefty said. “If you can trust you're being put in the right spots and you believe like the staff does, you believe that you're the guy for that job, then it just becomes pretty black and white. It becomes: 'Can I just do my job and help us win this ballgame?'

“You have to trust you're there for the right reasons, and you have to believe you're good enough to get the job done. Those are things we reiterate every day. Lots of affirmation, lots of support.”

That’s how the Tigers took down the AL West champions and postseason veterans in Game 2, quieting a lineup of proven performers and ending Houston’s run of seven consecutive trips to the AL Championship Series. It’s also how the Tigers believe they can keep it going heading into their best-of-five ALDS against Cleveland starting Saturday afternoon.

The Guardians played the Tigers 13 times in the regular season, but not since July 30 -- the day Detroit traded Jack Flaherty and threw its rotation into flux. Six Tigers pitched that day, starting with Tyler Holton, in a 5-0 loss that dropped Detroit five games under .500.

The Tigers were just getting a hang of this at that point. After an August meeting in which Hinch challenged his players by asking what kind of team they wanted to be, they got what Hinch has repeatedly called the buy-in.

“Buy-in's not for free. You've got to get players to understand the bigger goal,” Hinch said. “You've got to get players to understand how we're going to maximize their strengths. You've got to have players that will give up something in order for them to -- for another person to have an opportunity. That's on the mound, that's on defense. It's certainly on offense today.

“If you can switch the psyche and maybe take a tick of the pride and ego out of it, anything's possible. You can make decisions that put guys in a position to be successful.”

For all the intrigue over the Tigers’ pitching mix for Game 2, it revolved around Tucker and Yordan Alvarez, the left-handed sluggers at the heart of Houston’s lineup. Hinch wanted to match up against them each time the lineup turned over, preferably with a lefty. Take that priority, add some consideration for right-handed hitter Jose Altuve ahead of them, and build from there.

“Controlled chaos,” Guenther called it.

Seven Tigers pitchers combined for 27 outs; none recorded more than five outs. Even left-hander Brant Hurter, the closest Detroit came to a bulk pitcher, faced just eight batters before giving way to Brieske to face Altuve with a runner on in the fifth.

Brieske recorded five outs on 14 pitches. He was the only right-hander Tucker faced all series, and he retired him by spotting a 99 mph fastball on the outside corner to end the fifth and keep the game scoreless.

“No matter what role you're coming out in or what type of game you're pitching in, it's always important,” Brieske said. “There's no innings that aren't important in the grand scheme of things.”

No Astros hitter faced the same pitcher twice. The one hiccup was No. 2 prospect Jackson Jobe, whose seventh inning began with a hit batter and unraveled with back-to-back singles and a fielder’s choice, but Guenther picked him up.

“It creates challenges as a team, because you're getting to see different arms, different angles, different stuff, different situations of the game,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “You could come up with men in scoring position, with bases empty. You have to adjust. We were a hit away the last two days from taking the series. But baseball, you tip your hat to them and you move forward.”

So do the Tigers, who are likely to use a similar plan in the best-of-five Division Series. The Guardians are tougher to match up against, particularly with switch-hitters José Ramírez, Angel Martínez and Brayan Rocchio. But with an off-day Sunday between the series opener and Game 2 on Monday, and Tarik Skubal likely to pitch the latter, Hinch can deploy relievers with less worry for rest.

“Who knows what we're going to do,” Hinch said. “One of our things that we pride ourselves in is that we're unpredictable, and our players buy into that leading to success. When you find some success, you win a couple series, you perform on the highest stage, that strengthens that belief that we're going to try to chase every strength we can.”