Lakeland, Fla. — Michael Lorenzen knew he should’ve stayed up. He had a feeling the ending of the WBC championship game between Japan and the United States on Tuesday night was not only going to be epic, it could end up being settled by friends.
“I mean, I have an injury, so I have to get a specific amount of sleep,” the Tigers’ starting pitcher said, wearing a sleeve on his left leg. “But I woke up and checked it out and I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
The final out of Japan’s 3-2 win was a showdown at-bat between two of his former Angles teammates — Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.
“Not only did they match up in the WBC championship game, but for the last out they faced each other,” he said. “What an insane story. Those guys are incredible.”
Ohtani won a six-pitch battle, striking out Trout with a vile slider.
“Shohei is a machine,” Lorenzen said. “That slider he threw had like 22 inches of movement at 87 mph. If I threw a pitch with that much movement, I’d throw it at 75 mph. And he threw it at 87. He’s incredible.”
Lorenzen, who was scratched from his last spring start on Monday with a mild left groin strain, said he was going to play catch Wednesday to test the groin. His between-starts bullpen session would be Thursday.
“I’m feeling improved already,” he said. “The training staff has been great staying on top of it. We’re going to throw and check it out today but I am feeling pretty positive about it.”
His final spring start would be Saturday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin. But he has some hurdles to clear before that can happen.
“He’s encouraged by how he feels and we will get another update after he throws today,” manager AJ Hinch said. “He’s going to play catch today. We have to keep his arm moving. We’ll go to go day to day with where he’s at, take the advice of our medical staff, listen to him and see where it takes us.
“It’s going to be down to the wire.”
He felt the groin tighten while running sprints on Sunday, a normal part of his pre-start routine.
“Everyone has been through so many trials and ups and downs and roadblocks in their lives,” Lorenzen said. “I’ve thankfully gotten to a point where, it’s like, I understand that my prayer life has been deeper. My (bible) reading has been better. So what’s better than that?
“That’s my outlook. Just keep going and be grateful for everything. I’ll be back. I could dwell on it and be like, ‘Woe is me.’ Or just look at the positive side of the situation and know I have a challenge to work my way back.”
Unsung hero
Back to the WBC for a minute: If you watched any of Japan’s games on television, you saw a youngish-looking man with an iPad going over reports with any number of pitchers or hitters. That man was Kan Ikeda, the Tigers’ coordinator of Major League advance scouting.
Like he does for the Tigers, he helped prepare the advanced scouting reports on all of Japan’s opponents.
“He got three swings and misses from Ohtani (on Trout),” Hinch said. “We expect that to come back for us this season (laughs).”
Ikeda and his WBC gold medal will head back to Lakeland Wednesday night.
“It’s really cool, especially for Kan,” Hinch said. “Kan is an unsung hero for all the work he does behind the scenes and the interactions he has with the players. Kan has such a great connection that nobody knows about outside our doors.
“It’s fun to have him on center stage.”
Leading off?
Much of the roster remains under construction, even with Opening Day looming. But Hinch confirmed Wednesday what has become evident this spring.
“We will not have a singular leadoff hitter,” he said.
Akil Baddoo, Kerry Carpenter, Nick Maton, Matt Vierling and Austin Meadows have all hit leadoff this spring.
“The one guy I haven’t hit leadoff who I promised I would is Riley (Greene),” Hinch said.
Greene hit leadoff in 76 of the 93 games he played in his rookie season last year and undoubtedly will again this season.
“Yeah, I popped off last year and said I hoped he’d hit leadoff here for the next 10 years,” Hinch said, laughing. “Great quote. But they are all candidates to lead off. And I’m sure something will come up where I do something even different.”
The batting order, like the daily lineup, will be fluid and constructed based on possible match-up advantages in each game.
Around the horn
The Tigers on Wednesday announced 22 games this season will be broadcast in Spanish and will be available on 1270-AM as well as on the Audacy app across Michigan and worldwide on the MLB app. Tigers’ media relations bilingual coordinator Carlos Guillen will be handling the play-by-play. Among the scheduled analysts are former Tiger Barbaro Garbey and Venezuelan television analyst Mari Montes.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky