Pittsburgh — Before the game Wednesday afternoon, Eduardo Rodriguez was in front of his locker, doing some stretching, engaged in an animated and jovial conversation with Javier Báez and Jose Cisnero. He didn’t look like a man who had just made a potentially career-changing decision.
“I didn’t expect there to be any lingering stress or other issues with him,” manager AJ Hinch said. “He’s been upbeat as usual and ready to go.”
On the day after he exercised a no-trade clause in his contract and nixed a trade to the Dodgers, Rodriguez produced a quality start, allowing two runs in six innings in the Tigers’ 6-3 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
And afterward, he addressed questions about his decision to stay with the Tigers, at least through the rest of the season.
“I felt like we had a couple of conversations, but the details of the trade wasn’t what I wanted for me and my family so I decided to stay here,” he said.
Pressed for specifics, Rodriguez said, “That’s just between me and them and I can’t tell you about that. It’s just the details, I didn’t feel comfortable and I decided to stay here. It’s nothing against the Dodgers or the West Coast or anything like that. They’re a really good team.
“It’s just about me and my family and I decided to stay here.”
Rodriguez still can opt-out of this contract with the Tigers this winter. While he and his family are clearly happy in Detroit, he didn’t go as far as saying what his plans were for the offseason.
“If I had a magic ball and I could tell you what’s going to happen in the future, I’d probably tell you right away,” he said. “Right now I am here. I signed with this organization for a long time and I’m happy with everything. My family feels happy in Detroit, and I’m happy with my teammates and the organization.
“I’d love to stay here.”
The reality is, though, if Rodriguez continues to pitch like he did Wednesday, he would be in line to perhaps double the three years and $49 million he has left on his Tigers’ contract. This will all be revisited in the offseason. Right now, he was welcomed back with open arms by his teammates.
“He’s done this his whole career,” said Zack Short after watching Rodriguez punch out five over six innings. “He’s a guy we can lean on. Whenever he’s out there, we assume he’s going to go at least six innings. That’s who he’s been his whole career.”
He was a little wobbly out of the gate. The Pirates loaded the bases against him with one out in the first inning — single, double, walk. He was able to limit damage to a run on a sacrifice fly by Ke’Bryan Hayes.
He was bailed out in the second inning when the Tigers executed a textbook relay to throw out catcher Jason Delay at the plate. On a 3-2 count, Delay was running from first base when Connor Joe lined a ball into the corner in left field.
Left fielder Akil Baddoo quickly got to the ball before it could carom off the wall, spun and fired a strike to relay man Báez. Báez’s throw home, a seed, beat Delay enough to allow catcher Eric Haase time to clear a running lane to the plate and still make the tag.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 6, Pirates 3
After that, Rodriguez started to land and command his changeup and his outing smoothed out considerably. He set down six straight hitters in the third and fourth, using the changeup to post two of the three strikeouts in that stretch.
“I went eight days without pitching, so I feel really good about that” Rodriguez said. “At the beginning it was a little weird. I was too powerful with all my pitches. But as it went on I got better and I made adjustments.”
Things got dicey in the bottom of the ninth. Alex Lange, working with a four-run lead, struck out the first two hitters. And didn’t get another out. He walked Joe, gave up a broken-bat single to Bryan Reynolds, walked Andrew McCutchen to load the bases and then walked Henry Davis to force in a run.
Lefty Tyler Holton was summoned to face Hayes. He struck him out looking at a 3-2 changeup to earn his first career save.
“Never be mad at a win,” Hinch said, smiling.
The Tigers, after virtually sleepwalking through a 4-1 loss Tuesday, were the aggressors from the start. Riley Greene landed the first punch in the first inning, lining an 0-1 changeup from Pirates starter Osvaldo Bido into the party deck in right-center field for his ninth home run of the season.
The Tigers took advantage of a walk and hit batter in a three-run fourth. Báez singled in one run and when the Pirates went to lefty reliever Ryan Borucki, the chess game was on.
With runners at first and second and no outs, Hinch kept lefty Nick Maton in the game and had him bunt the runners up a base, which he did. That allowed him to keep one left-handed bat in the lineup for later in the game.
Important because he sent up the right-handed hitting Short to pinch-hit for Baddoo. Short, who had stranded five runners in two at-bats Sunday in Miami, delivered a two-run single.
“It’s crazy how it was in the fourth inning,” said Short, who came up again in the sixth with two outs and lashed an RBI double into the left-field corner. “But that’s what he (Hinch) has been doing all year. He always says, ‘We can win the game with a pinch-hit early or late.’ So you have to be ready from the get-go.”
Pinch-hitters ended up producing four of the Tigers’ runs. Jake Rogers hit his first career pinch-hit home run in the eighth. He was sent up to face left-hander Jose Hernandez. The Pirates countered with right-hander Yerry De Los Santo.
Rogers didn’t care. He locked on to a 2-2 slider and hit it 406 feet. It was his 13th home run this season.
“We are trying our best to line everybody up in the best situations imaginable,” Hinch said. “We’re not going to be perfect with what we do and the players aren’t going to be perfect with the results. But it’s been a season-long effort to get everybody ready for any situation.
“It’s nice when it works out.”
Rodriguez was front and center to give Short a fist-pump for his contributions. He was there for Holton’s beer shower after the game. Even if it’s just for a couple more months, he’s ingrained in this Tigers’ culture.
“I love the guys here and I feel they love me, too,” he said. “They’re happy I’m staying here and I am happy to be staying here. I’m glad to be staying with the organization to help as much as I can with the young guys and to go out every five days and do what I can to win the game.
“We have a really good team and a really good future. I want to be part of it now.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky