DETROIT — Gregory Soto wasn’t coronated as the Tigers’ closer when Ron Gardenhire turned to his hard-throwing lefty for the final inning of Saturday’s doubleheader sweep. The matchups dictated his presence more than the manager did.
“We’ve got our charts, and they give you the best pitchers for each hitter.
DETROIT —
“We’ve got our charts, and they give you the best pitchers for each hitter. And we believed yesterday that who was coming up, that part of the lineup, we needed a power arm,” Gardenhire said. “We wanted somebody because you’re going through that part of the lineup, that’s the big boys. We’ve set him up like that a few times just to get through the big part of the inning and he’s done pretty well.”
Detroit has played matchups with Soto for the last few weeks, but in the setup innings. Saturday was the first time Gardenhire did it in the closer role. But with no set closer for now, this was his opportunity.
As Soto danced on the precipice of loading the bases with nobody out, falling behind in the count on Miguel Sanó after a Nelson Cruz leadoff single and an Eddie Rosario five-pitch walk, Gardenhire had
“If he walked another guy, I think we would’ve had to,” Gardenhire said. “I don’t think you would’ve had a choice. We stuck with him because we felt that he was throwing the ball better as he got going. He was slowing down a little bit. When Sanó came up, Farmer wasn’t ready.”
Soto finished the job. With a well-placed 96 mph sinker at the knees and a ground-ball double play, Soto turned a two-on, no-out situation with the potential go-ahead run at the plate into a runner on third with two outs and Marwin Gonzalez at the plate as the tying run. Soto fell behind again, running a 3-1 count, but he turned back to the sinker for a foul ball at the belt and a called third strike on the outside corner.
It was Soto’s first save in the United States. He had three last offseason in winter ball.
“I like to feel that type of situation. I know we’re made for that type of stressful situations. That’s why we have a gift.” Soto said through translator Carlos Guillen. “Having an opportunity to do it, I can’t let it go. I have to take advantage of it.”
Closing in the Dominican can be more pressure, Soto said. When fans there yell, it’s in his native language, and it can be salty. That stint helped him.
“I know I didn’t come to be a closer,” he said. “I just came here to do my job whenever I’m called. That made me throw away pressure and focus on what I have to do.”
Soto will get more chances as Gardenhire continues to go closer-by-committee until Jiménez returns to form. Full-time closing might be in Soto’s future, but not right away.
“I think he’s slowly gotta build into it,” Gardenhire said. “I’m not saying he’s ready to do it on an everyday basis. He’s gotta command the strike zone a little bit better. That’s a no-no with closers. You have to throw strikes. When you have a great arm, it’s gotta go over the plate. If they hit you, that’s one thing. If you walk people, that’s not good in closing situations. That’s why Jiménez, we’re trying to let him get his confidence back.”
Quick hits
• Catcher
• Infielder
“You want to see him and Paredes getting plenty of at-bats through the rest of this thing,” Gardenhire said. “Just looking for another option. We’ll just take a look at him, see what he can do.”
Jason Beck has covered the Tigers for MLB.com since 2002. Read Beck’s Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason.