Tigers happier to see Sanchez than to face him

DETROIT -- Before Nationals starter Anibal Sanchez took the mound at Comerica Park on Friday night for the first time in two years, he took the field in the afternoon during batting practice to say hello to former Tigers teammates. That says plenty about who he is.

It also explains a lot about how, two years after his last start for the Tigers, his influence is still felt around the clubhouse.

While Max Scherzer¡¯s return to Motown was the headline Friday afternoon, few teammates remain from his Tigers tenure -- Nicholas Castellanos, Miguel Cabrera and Buck Farmer are the only players still around from the 2014 team. But Sanchez was here for the start of the Tigers' transformation two years ago, trying to rebuild his arsenal to adjust to lower velocity while the roster was rebuilt around him.

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¡°Definitely, [Comerica Park is] a place that [I haven't been to] for a while, and coming out from the other [dugout], it's different,¡± Sanchez said. ¡°You see the uniform but this team right now on the other side, probably 90 percent is new.¡±

As Sanchez extended Detroit¡¯s hitting woes for six innings, limiting his former team to a Castellanos home run to send the Tigers to their eighth straight defeat in a 3-1 loss, he was a reminder of the lessons he carried to the young pitchers who benefited from his advice.

¡°Anibal's awesome,¡± Matthew Boyd said. ¡°He was always the same guy regardless of how he was pitching. And he always preached that to us. He lived it out. He was the same person every day, and he always had our backs.

¡°I remember after a few rough outings he pulled me aside and said, ¡®Pitching isn¡¯t who you are, it¡¯s what you do. You¡¯re going to get the ball tomorrow.¡¯ It means a lot for a guy of his stature and his track record and what he means in the locker room to come up and say that to someone who didn¡¯t have nearly as much time.¡±

Sanchez knew at the time he wasn¡¯t going to be around for long. The five-year deal he signed after the Tigers¡¯ World Series trip in 2012 was about to expire, and while the Tigers liked him, there was no way they were picking up his contract option. He amazingly accepted an assignment to Triple-A Toledo that year in an attempt to resurrect his game, and came back to become one of the few bright spots in a rough stretch run for Detroit following the Justin Verlander trade. Among Sanchez¡¯s projects was a 60-something-mph changeup he called ¡°la mariposa,¡± or the butterfly.

Sanchez posted a 6.41 ERA in his final season in Detroit. After being released by Minnesota and signing with Atlanta in Spring Training last year, he posted a 2.83 ERA for the Braves.

¡°He was going through a lot of frustration when he was here [two years ago],¡± said Daniel Norris, who took the loss Friday. ¡°So it's nice to see him have a bounceback year last year, and he's throwing well this year. He's a great teammate.¡±

Friday was an example of the fruits of that work. Sanchez¡¯s eight strikeouts over six innings included a splitter that got Brandon Dixon to strand two runners in the third inning, and a 74-mph changeup that fanned Harold Castro to strand a runner in scoring position in the sixth. His velocity over 110 pitches ranged from a 65.6-mph mariposa to a 92-mph fastball, according to Statcast. Ten of his 13 swings and misses came off the splitter.

¡°He was always good at striking guys out,¡± Boyd said. ¡°He definitely helped open my eyes to see what a hitter's looking for and setting him up.¡±

The Tigers didn¡¯t miss any of his fastballs but put just two in play, compared to seven called strikes.

¡°He maneuvers the baseball. He can make it move all over the place,¡± said Ron Gardenhire, who saw Sanchez from the opposing side for a few years as Twins manager before taking the helm in Detroit. ¡°He¡¯s not powerful like he used to be, doesn¡¯t throw as hard as he used to, but he really knows how to pitch.¡±

Castellanos, who was among the Tigers to greet Sanchez earlier Friday, jumped a Sanchez fastball in the fifth to account for the Tigers¡¯ scoring. Castellanos and Cabrera, the two hitters in Friday¡¯s Tigers lineup who were around for most of Sanchez¡¯s Tigers tenure, combined for four of Detroit¡¯s six hits off him. The bottom five hitters in the lineup combined for two hits, both from Jeimer Candelario, and seven strikeouts.

¡°I think in the end,¡± Sanchez said, ¡°it¡¯s [just] another team that you have to face."

Once another ex-Tiger, Fernando Rodney, retired the side in order in the ninth for his 326th Major League save on the same field where he picked up his first in a Detroit uniform back in 2003, the Tigers had fallen.

The Tigers have tried to follow Sanchez¡¯s example and keep the same personality win or lose. With 21 losses in their last 23 home games, it hasn¡¯t been easy.

¡°He's the same person every single day,¡± Boyd said. ¡°And that speaks to how good of a teammate he was, and that's truly the important part, the same person every day, regardless of what happened.¡±

Norris held the Nationals to two runs, one on a tape-measure home run from Juan Soto onto the Pepsi Porch over the right-field seats. He pitched through a cramp in his surgically repaired left groin for most of his five innings before the Tigers pulled him, but Norris doesn¡¯t expect it to be a problem.