Detroit – When manager AJ Hinch decided to use lefty Tyler Holton as an opener ahead of rookie Reese Olson’s start Thursday in Philadelphia, it was more about the two left-handed hitters that bat first and third in the Phillies lineup – a couple of guys named Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
By letting Holton handle them the first time through the order, Olson would potentially only have to deal with the twice if he got through six innings, which is how it worked out. Win-win.
On Sunday, though, starting Will Vest ahead of Joey Wentz against the Diamondbacks was more about giving Wentz some defibrillation.
“We’ve got to give Joey a different look,” Hinch said before the game. “Either it changes the third time through the order for him or it just breaks the continued grind that he’s been in.”
Wentz had allowed 27 runs in his last seven starts covering 29.1 innings with opponents hitting .366 and slugging .634 against him. Something had to change. And the idea to use an opener ahead of Wentz has been discussed for his last two starts.
The risk doing it Sunday was, with the Tigers presently operating with four starting pitchers, Hinch had already planned a bullpen start Monday against the Atlanta Braves. If Wentz faltered, it was going to leave the bullpen thinner than it already was.
And it didn’t look good at first. After Vest pitched a scoreless first, Wentz walked right-handed hitting Evan Longoria and gave up a two-run home run to lefty swinging Pavin Smith. Ironically, Hinch before the game talked about letting Vest go through Longoria, even if it meant Wentz started in the middle of an inning.
“Longoria is in there to hit against lefties, but we let (Wentz) face him and he walks him,” Hinch said. “And then the homer to the lefty which would’ve been the target for when we were going to bring him into the game. Not getting into the game was tough, but he mentally got over that and I thought settled in pretty nicely.”
It was vital that he did. Wentz set down 12 straight before walking Ketel Marte to start the sixth. He got the Tigers to the backend of their bullpen with a lead.
“I tried to treat it like pitching,” Wentz said. “First, second, third inning, just go in and get your outs. I thought I was going to have a chance to get some bulk innings and honestly I didn’t. I threw 4.1 innings. I wish I could’ve gone five, but the leadoff walk (in the sixth) was bad.”
Still, it was the sharpest Wentz has looked in a month. He was tying up the Arizona hitters primarily with well-located four-seam fastballs and cutters, just sprinkling in changeups and curveballs. Significantly, he was able to command his pitches on his arm side – on the outer edge to right-handed hitters and the inner edge to lefties.
“Arm side is big for him,” catcher Eric Haase said. “Just staying behind the baseball and not opening up (in his delivery). He was throwing his cutter and breaking ball off of that and it definitely opened it up for him.”
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Wentz eating 4.1 innings didn’t alleviate the stress on the bullpen. The Diamondbacks continued to apply pressure and draw walks and ultimately rallied out of a 5-2 deficit to win the game 7-5.
Jason Foley, who got tagged for four runs in the top of the ninth, threw 28 pitches and will likely be unavailable Monday. Alex Lange, who Hinch used to get a big out in the seventh, threw 19 pitches. Tyler Holton, who was summoned in the eighth inning after Lange faltered, threw 16.
It’s not the way Hinch drew it up. But the Diamondbacks forced his hand bringing the tying run to the plate with two outs in the seventh against lefty Chasen Shreve. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo, as Hinch suspected, sent up right-handed hitting Emmanuel Rivera to pinch-hit.
“Rivera crushes lefties,” Hinch said. “That was the only place where they would use him. I didn’t want to go to Lange right then but we were going to need a punch-out and he’s the most equipped.”
Rivera was slugging .532 with a .915 OPS against left-handed pitching. Lange struck him out with a curveball.
The Tigers were in good shape at that point. Hinch wanted Lange to get through the eighth inning, preferably in three hitters. That would set it up for Foley to pitch the ninth with two right-handed hitters coming up.
It didn’t work out that way. Lange gave up doubles to Corbin Carroll and Christian Walker, which forced Hinch to go to lefty Holton with switch-hitting Geraldo Perdomo and lefty Smith coming up.
Holton walked both of those hitters to load the bases before he got a clutch strikeout of Nick Ahmed.
“Going to Holton didn’t really impact Foley until the walks,” Hinch said. “With the walks, then they start to chip away, get a run – we had to start Foley later in the lineup which sets up Ketel Marte and, most importantly, Carroll, in the ninth.”
Foley gave up a single to Rivera and walked Marte. Carroll, who had earlier doubled and tripled, singled in a run. But with one out and a one-run lead, Foley still had two right-handed hitters coming up. Righties were hitting .180 against him.
He got Lourdes Gurriel, Jr., to fly out and had Walker in a 1-2 hole before leaving a slider over the plate. Walker flipped it into left for a double, scoring two runs and Perdomo followed with a single.
Double-whammy: The Tigers lose the game and Hinch ends up using six relievers, counting Vest.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter@cmccosky