Detroit Tigers right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who will represent the organization at the All-Star Game in Seattle on Tuesday, kept the Oakland Athletics from scoring through five innings in Thursday’s series finale.
But Lorenzen didn’t return for the sixth inning.
“We wanted him to finish on such a good note going into the All-Star break,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We had it perfectly aligned of how we could go about (that) with the way their lineup was.”
The Tigers removed their All-Star after 60 pitches in Thursday’s 9-0 win at Comerica Park. It was the Tigers’ first and only victory in the three-game series against the worst team in baseball.
“I feel like I’m going into the break with more confidence than I’ve ever had,” Lorenzen said. “After the Rockies outing, it was like, ‘I have to get better.’ I feel like in short time we did, so I’m feeling really confident going into the second half and the All-Star Game.”
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The Tigers (38-48) play three games, from Friday through Sunday, against the Toronto Blue Jays at Comerica Park before the All-Star break. They’re six games behind the Minnesota Twins for first place in the American League Central.
After Thursday’s game, the Tigers optioned left-handed reliever Zach Logue and infielder Tyler Nevin to Triple-A Toledo. Before Friday’s game, the Tigers will activate right-hander Alex Faedo and outfielder Akil Baddoo.
Players can be optioned to the minor leagues five times per season; Nevin has been optioned four times.
Lorenzen surrendered just three hits in his stellar outing: Aledmys Diaz’s single in the third inning, Brent Rooker’s single in the fourth inning and Jordan Diaz’s single in the fifth inning. Two of those three base runners were eliminated with ground-ball double plays.
The Tigers provided Lorenzen with a 2-0 lead in the first inning, when Javier Báez hit a curveball for a two-run single to center field with two strikes and two outs against left-hander Hogan Harris.
“We all settled down a little bit with Javy’s two-out base hit in the first,” Hinch said. “Something about a two-out hit at the very beginning of the game makes everybody exhale, especially with how the last couple nights have gone offensively. That’s probably part of it.”
By the time Lorenzen departed, the Tigers were in full control of Thursday’s series finale with a 7-0 lead over the Athletics.
“We liked where we were at in the game,” Hinch said.
Lorenzen, who signed a one-year, $8.5 million contract in the offseason, tossed five scoreless innings and registered four strikeouts across five innings, throwing 40 of 60 pitches for strikes. He generated nine whiffs with three fastballs, three changeups and three sliders.
He lowered his ERA from 4.28 to 4.03 through 15 starts.
“We’ve been working on slider execution with two strikes,” Lorenzen said. “Trying not to throw it right down the middle with two strikes and making it go strike-to-ball. We were able to execute a lot of those today.”
The 31-year-old is expected to be shopped by the Tigers to postseason contenders as a three-month rental ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline, along with fellow pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez and José Cisnero.
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Offense breaks out
The Tigers scored in all but two innings.
Harris allowed seven runs on eight hits and four walks with six strikeouts in 4⅔ innings, throwing 69 of 105 pitches for strikes. After Báez’s two-run single, the Tigers struck again for two runs in both the third and fourth innings.
“Staying with a good approach, getting good pitches to hit and not missing them,” Hinch said.
Three walks, including on by Báez, set the table for Kerry Carpenter’s RBI single and Jonathan Schoop’s sacrifice fly for two runs in the third. Doubles from Zack Short and Jake Marisnick, plus Marisnick’s stolen base, and a single from Matt Vierling accounted for the next two runs in the fourth.
Vierling put the Tigers ahead, 6-0.
“From Pitch 1 to the last out, guys were grinding out at-bats,” Marisnick said. “When you do it one through nine (in the batting order), it’s a recipe for success. Everybody stays on the same page and keeps on competing.”
The Tigers kept scoring with one run in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Marisnick pushed the margin to 8-0 with a solo home run in the sixth, while Eric Haase made it 9-0 with a much-needed single in the seventh.
“Looking to get the head (of the bat) out early,” Marisnick said. “Got a good pitch to hit.”
Haase is hitting .213 with three home runs in 66 games this season.
After the All-Star
The Tigers used three relievers out of the bullpen.
Left-hander Tyler Holton pitched two scoreless innings with one strikeout; right-handed Brendan White pitched one scoreless inning with one strikeout; and left-hander Chasen Shreve pitched one scoreless inning with three strikeouts.
Shreve, who threw nine of 12 pitches for strikes, struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth to end the game: Shea Langeliers (90.9 mph fastball), Tony Kemp (81.8 mph splitter) and JJ Bleday (82.7 mph splitter).
The Athletics finished with four hits and zero walks.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.