Seattle — Michael Lorenzen learned a valuable lesson Tuesday from his first All-Star Game appearance.
Never leave your caffeine supplement in the clubhouse. Or, to put it another way, nausea is your friend.
“I usually take quite a bit of caffeine before I pitch,” he said before the game Friday night. “So when I first run out to pitch in a game I am usually kind of nauseous because my heart rate is so high.”
Lorenzen was sitting in the bullpen in the seventh inning when Toronto’s Jordan Romano was summoned to pitch for the American League. Lorenzen was told he was manager Dusty Baker’s emergency guy, so the last thing he expected was the bullpen phone to ring again.
Romano left the game with back stiffness after retiring one hitter. Lorenzen got the quick call. And it dawned on him as he was running to the mound to warm up that he’d left his caffeine in the clubhouse.
“I didn’t have any caffeine in my system, so I was actually pretty calm,” he said. “I think that’s why my velo wasn’t where I wanted it to be. If I was nauseous it would have been higher.”
After giving up a single and a walk, he settled in and got Juan Soto to pop out and he struck out Pete Alonso with a wicked changeup.
“It’s like either I feel like I’m going to puke on the mound but throwing it harder or having no caffeine and I’m just out there chilling and making pitches,” he said, laughing.
Truth is, it was a big moment for him.
“It was a big situation, one-run game, All-Star Game – you don’t want to be the guy to lose the game for your team,” he said. “Just walking off the field not giving up a run, feeling like you performed well, you feel pretty accomplished.
“It was a great time.”
Trade winds
Lorenzen’s profile as a possible trade target was elevated during All-Star week. He and Tigers’ lefty Eduardo Rodriguez are at the top of most industry lists of available starting pitchers.
“This is the most in my face that it’s been my entire career,” Lorenzen said. “So I’m just staying off my phone, to be honest. I still have to go out and make pitches, right? It’s all out of my control. So I’m staying off my phone and trying to stay off social media.”
Manager AJ Hinch, as he has in his two previous seasons with the Tigers, keeps the lines of communication open with players about the trade rumors.
“It just reality,” he said. “There’s going to be rumors. There’s going to be things that people hear. You just can’t avoid it. You can’t be in this sport and be affected by the conversations around our sport. I’ll handle it directly. They can come to me or I will come to them.
“It’s out of our control. I would expect our players to be talked about because we have some pretty good players. That doesn’t mean we hope to move on from guys.”
Hinch said his job is to keep the focus on the field and on the day’s game. He also knows that the club’s performance could directly impact the trade decisions.
“I’m aware of where we’re at and what’s possible,” he said. “But I also know that we can make a strong statement by playing better and giving the organization something to think about.”
Lorenzen made the same point.
“We are in a spot to where the Central Division is wide open for the taking,” he said. “We’re getting guys back healthy. No one knows anything (about the rumors). But guys sign one-year deals so teams can maybe get some pieces back at the deadline. Both sides make sense.
“We have a good group of guys here and the division is open for the taking. To be able to win the division would be incredible.”
Nick Maton, Take Two
The Tigers called up left-handed hitting utility player Nick Maton Friday. He takes the roster spot vacated when Jake Marisnick was designated for assignment and subsequently released (he signed with the Dodgers).
Maton was hitting .163 on June 25 when he was optioned to Triple-A Toledo. In 11 games with the Mud Hens, he slashed .290/.417/.526 with a .943 OPS.
“Nick went down and did what we asked him to do,” Hinch said. “His performance was more well-rounded. He moved around the infield. I think the mental reset was good for him. We want to honor our word that when we felt he did that we would bring him back into the fold.”
Maton hit two homers in his stint in Toledo, but more importantly, he started hitting the ball up the middle and the opposite way. He’d gotten severely pull-happy with the Tigers.
“Hitting the ball in the air to the pull side can’t be the only threat you have to contribute offensively,” Hinch said. “Watching his games, there was more contact in the middle of the field and more contact to left field. More singles, which are still cool.
“That was a good indication that his approach was cleaned up a little bit.”
Maton worked with Toledo hitting coach Mike Hessman to stay longer in his legs. He started coming up and out of his legs as breaking balls and off-speed pitches were coming down, making it all but impossible to hit them.
“I needed a bit of a reset, just to get my feet under me a little bit and get back to who I am and how I play and get back to having fun again,” Maton said. “I feel like I’m in a good spot to help the team win some games.”
Maton admitted that he put too much pressure on himself, almost from the start of the season.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to be someone on the team who could really contribute and help out and be a main part of it,” he said. “I wasn’t doing well and I was pressing to do even better just to get on track. Sometimes you just get too hard on yourself.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter @cmccosky