Arlington, Texas — It was mentioned to manager AJ Hinch that the only bullpen in baseball that’s been used more than his in June was the San Francisco Giants’ bullpen.
“Can I catch them today?” he said.
He was kidding. We think.
The reality is, partly as a strategy and mostly as a necessity, the Tigers have put a heavy burden on their bullpen this month. The 109 innings pitched by Detroit relievers entering play Wednesday was second only to the Giants’ 116 innings.
Injuries to a fleet of starting pitchers reduced the Tigers to a four-man rotation for the entire month, which forced some creative/desperate options for the fifth start in the rotation. Like deploying four intentional bullpen games (the club is 3-1 in those starts), three unintentional bullpen games (after the starting pitcher was KO’d early) and using an opener twice.
There is typically a toll to pay for such heavy usage.
“It’s a concern, but it’s pitcher by pitcher,” Hinch said. “One thing I do feel good about is, there have only been a couple of spots where we’ve put guys in tough spots physically. We’ve got to pay attention to it. It’s not sustainable over the entire season.”
Help is on the way. Starter Matt Manning returned from the injured list Tuesday. Eduardo Rodriguez and Tarik Skubal both could be back before the All-Star break next month. They can’t get back soon enough, especially now that Matthew Boyd has been lost for the season (impending Tommy John surgery).
Reliever Will Vest, who had worked 10.2 innings this month, was put on the injured list Tuesday because of a lower-leg injury. Tyler Alexander (17 innings) and Tyler Holton (12.2 innings) weren’t expected to be available until possibly Thursday, after pitching multiple innings on Tuesday.
Rookie Brendan White, just called up June 13, has already pitched 10.1 innings. Mason Englert, who was essentially shut down for seven days, has logged 13 innings. Even leverage relievers Jason Foley (11.1) and Jose Cisnero (9.2) have been used for one-plus inning stints.
The workloads of Chasen Shreve (9) and Alex Lange (8.1) have been, in comparison, relatively normal, though Lange has been used on back-to-back days 10 times, including four times this month.
“We talk about workload a lot and the recent memory of it drives the conversation,” Hinch said. “But, we pay attention to it all the time and we’ve been very disciplined not to use guys that we have declared unavailable on that night.
“Even if that means pitching guys out of turn or out of role or out of comfort level.”
Such was the case Tuesday night, when Hinch went to White in the sixth and stayed with him into the eighth, even after the Tigers had tied the game in the top of the eighth. Multiple relievers, including Lange and Foley, were unavailable.
“We have to be careful with our guys and monitor each one as we go,” Hinch said. “We do give a ton of rest. Holton hadn’t pitched for four days before we used him back-to-back Sunday and Monday. Shreve got a four- or five-day break. Foley had a four-day break. Lange had a four-day break.”
It’s a Catch-22 situation, for sure. Hinch can’t preach “Win today’s game” and not manage to win every night, even if it takes leaning heavily on his bullpen. In a perfect world, five starting pitchers would be averaging close to six innings per start and the league would allow teams to carry 14 pitchers in times of need.
The Tigers do not presently live in that world.
Last week, Alexander was asked if there might eventually be a price to pay for carrying this burden.
“Probably,” he said. “We will deal with it when we get there. It is what it is. You will see it out of all of us. At some point, we’ll be dragging a bit. But, our bullpen is built for it. We have long guys and guys that can go one-plus and two-plus innings.
“We’re built for it and we’re going to keep doing it.”
The planned bullpen games might not go away, even when the rotation gets healthy. Both Hinch and team president Scott Harris have extolled the virtues of being able to mix-and-match with a preconceived plan, giving multiple looks to opposing lineups over the course of nine innings.
“Bullpen games are an incredible strategy,” Hinch said. “I hope we deploy them when we can and not out of need. It’s the unplanned bullpen games that are hard to come back from.”
Tigers at Rangers
First pitch: 2:05 p.m. Thursday, Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas
TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit, 97.1.
Scouting report:
RHP Reese Olson (1-2, 4.74), Tigers: He’s coming off a beauty against the Twins, where he struck out a career-best nine and allowed only one run in 5.1 innings. Opponents are hitting just .213 against him overall and they’re barely touching his slider (6-for-38, 14 strikeouts, 40% swing-and-miss rate). His slider has been so effective, he hasn’t much used one of his premier weapons — the changeup. He’s only thrown the pitch 14% of the time.
TBA, Rangers: Texas had not announced its starter before the game Wednesday.
Twitter: @cmccosky