It happened subtly in Tuesday’s 6-0 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Detroit Tigers left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who has a 2.75 ERA in 17 starts this season, finished the seventh inning by striking out Michael A. Taylor to conclude a six-pitch battle and a 102-pitch performance, and upon his return to the dugout, he smiled and embraced manager A.J. Hinch.
Both Rodriguez and Hinch started laughing.
“We do need to note he went over 100 pitches,” Hinch said after Tuesday’s shutout, started by Rodriguez and finished by right-handed relievers Jason Foley and José Cisnero. “That’s a big deal to him. It’s not a big deal to me, but that’s what we were laughing about in the dugout.”
“After he took me out of the game, I just hugged him and told him, ‘Finally, I threw 100 pitches,'” Rodriguez said. “We both laughed about it. I really like that he let me go out there for the seventh and throw 100-plus.”
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The 100-pitch mark matters to Rodriguez.
It’s the benchmark for frontline starting pitchers.
“I think most pitchers want to usually have one pitch too much and not one pitch too less, if they were going to get a vote,” said Hinch, who managed Edwin Jackson’s 149-pitch no-hitter in June 2010. “But that started a while back with Eduardo. I think he might have asked me that when we sat down to sign him (in November 2021), like do I believe in 100-pitch counts? I can always go to Edwin Jackson’s 149 pitches, so of course I believe in 100-pitch counts.
“I mean, we would send guys all the time over 100. That number has changed within my managerial career. It used to be guys were worried about 110, 115, 118, and then all of a sudden, when the number turns 100 on the scoreboard, the entire world looks at the manager like, ‘What are you going to do?’ That includes the pitchers.”
Rodriguez has reached 100 pitches three times this season: 102 in eight scoreless innings May 4 against the New York Mets, 100 in six innings of one-run ball May 28 against the Chicago White Sox and 102 in seven scoreless innings Tuesday.
The 30-year-old also has thrown 95-99 pitches in seven starts this season, including 99 pitches to complete eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts on April 18 and 99 pitches to complete seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts on May 10, both against the Cleveland Guardians.
“As a starting pitcher, you want to go 100-plus pitches,” Rodriguez said. “No matter what team you’re on, you just want to go 100 all the time, 100-plus pitches. That means you’re going deep in the game. Some games, you’re going to go 100 in five innings, but most of the time, when you go 100-plus, it’s because you go six or seven innings all the time.”
Rodriguez reached the 100-pitch mark three times in 2022 — the first season of his five-year, $77 million contract, which includes an opt-out clause — giving him a total of six 100-plus outings in his 34-start stint with the Tigers.
He had 22 starts of at least 100 pitches in his 2019 season with the Boston Red Sox, spanning 34 starts. In 10 of those 22 starts, Rodriguez threw more than 110 pitches. He has never reached the 110-pitch mark in his tenure with the Tigers; he maxed out at 104 pitches on May 13, 2022, against the Baltimore Orioles.
“I’m used to that, and I really like that,” Rodriguez said. “That’s how I grew up pitching in the big leagues. That’s the way I like to be. I like to be prepared, and I like to throw 100-plus pitches all the time. He let me go 100-plus, and I loved it. Hopefully, he’s going to let me go like that for the rest of the season, too.”
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Rodriguez’s next start is scheduled for Sunday, against his former team in Boston. In 2023, Rodriguez has a 2.75 ERA with 25 walks (6.2% walk rate) and 101 strikeouts (25% strikeout rate) across 101⅓ innings in 17 starts as the leader of the Tigers’ starting rotation.
Rodriguez suffered a ruptured pulley in his left index finger at the end of May but returned in early July to continue the best season of his eight-year career, and to continue the 100-pitch banter with Hinch.
Rodriguez and Hinch share a close relationship.
“It kind of became a back and forth,” Hinch said. “I like telling him that he got up to 100 not because of something I did, but because he had like an 11-pitch at-bat with Michael Taylor that he couldn’t get out. That’s a number that’s important to him. It’s not important to me because I manage the game. But it’s become a lightning rod for starting pitchers around the league with who gets to go over 100 and who doesn’t.”
One day after Rodriguez’s 102-pitch effort, former Tigers right-hander Michael Lorenzen — shipped to the Philadelphia Phillies at the Aug. 1 trade deadline — completed a 124-pitch no-hitter against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. He threw the most pitches in a no-hitter by a single pitcher since Mike Fiers’ 131 pitches in 2019.
Rodriguez watched the final nine outs from the Tigers’ clubhouse.
“Next time, don’t walk too many guys,” Rodriguez said, when asked if Lorenzen, who walked four batters in his no-hitter, would have been allowed to throw 124 pitches with the Tigers.
The joke from Rodriguez about Lorenzen’s pitch count is another example of his behind-the-scenes banter with Hinch, the unbreakable bond between them and his desire to throw more pitches.
Hinch, of course, responded accordingly.
“Throw a no-hitter,” Hinch said, laughing. “I told you, 120 is nothing. 149, Edwin Jackson.”
Spencer Turnbull needs fifth rehab start
Right-hander Spencer Turnbull (neck discomfort) completed the fourth start of his rehab assignment Wednesday with Triple-A Toledo, building up to 74 pitches across 4⅓ innings. The 30-year-old has thrown twice for High-A West Michigan and twice for Triple-A Toledo since beginning his rehab assignment July 25.
In Wednesday’s start, Turnbull allowed three runs on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He walked the final two batters he faced before getting replaced by right-handed reliever Rony Garcia.
“The report was that his stuff was still pretty good,” Hinch said. “He got his pitch count into the 70s, which was important. We’ll do it again in five or six days. His next scheduled outing will be on Tuesday.”
Turnbull tossed 43 of 74 of his pitches, a below average 58.1%, for strikes. He threw 37 four-seam fastballs (50%), 19 sinkers (26%), seven sliders (9%), seven changeups (9%) and four curveballs (5%).
He generated 13 whiffs with eight fastballs, two sinkers, two sliders and one curveball.
“All reporters were that he was able to handle the workload that we asked him to do,” Hinch said. “Things are trending in the right direction.”
Turnbull, who will start again Tuesday for the Mud Hens, has a 4.97 ERA with four walks and 13 strikeouts across 12⅔ innings in four rehab starts. He also has a 7.26 ERA with 15 walks and 24 strikeouts over 31 innings in seven starts with the Tigers, from April 1 through May 6.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.