Detroit — For a man who typically lives his life free of doubts and second-guesses, Andrew Chafin was dealing with a lot of conflicting thoughts on his drive home from the ballpark Tuesday night after he’d given up a badly-timed, two-run home run to Yuli Gurriel in the Tigers’ 6-3 loss.
“I wanted to be so pissed off,” Chafin said Wednesday morning, sipping on a cup of coffee at his locker. “I wanted to be angry about it. Like fired up. But I didn’t even miss a pitch yesterday. The (leadoff) walk was unacceptable, but that’s going to happen.
“But the dude just straight-up beat me. What was there to be mad about? I did exactly what I wanted to do at that point and time. As much as I wanted to burn the stadium down after that, (stuff) happens.”
The Tigers were down 4-2 when Chafin entered in the seventh. Andrew Lange had just struck out two hitters to escape a mess in the sixth. And earlier in the seventh inning, center fielder Riley Greene made a spectacular diving catch in right-center field to take extra bases and an RBI away from Alex Bregman.
There were two outs and Yordan Alvarez was still on first base when right-handed hitting Gurriel stepped up. Keeping the deficit at two, with the back-end of the Astros bullpen rested and ready, was vital.
After missing with a first-pitch sinker, Chafin fired a four-seam fastball that ended up in the heart of the plate and it still tied Gurriel up. He fouled the pitch off. Reading that swing, Chafin knew immediately where he wanted to attack with the next pitch.
“That (1-0) pitch was middle-in, thigh-high and it got in on him,” Chafin said. “Alright, I am going to pound that thing in harder. I got it six inches farther in and eight inches higher. If you go watch, the difference in his swing before and his swing on the home run pitch — his hands cleared so good.”
So, Gurriel knew what was coming?
“I wouldn’t say he knew it was coming,” Chafin said. “But he guessed right, let’s say. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I made the pitch I wanted to make at that point and time he beat me.”
Gurriel hadn’t homered in 58 games, not since July 1. He’d gone 243 plate appearances without a homer. But on this one, he cleared his front side and got the barrel on the pitch even though it was off the plate and crowding him. He lined it over the wall in left. It was just the fifth homer Chafin’s allowed this season.
The four-seamer is Chafin’s third-most used pitch after his sinker and slider. The average velocity on the pitch is 91 mph. He threw the two to Gurriel at 93 mph.
“You beat a dude on a heater middle-in, I’m going to up and in farther and beat you harder,” Chafin said. “I know what I want to do on the first pitch. Then I read the swing, adjust accordingly and trust my gut. My gut was wrong yesterday.”
If there was any lesson to be taken from that situation, it might be to read the hitter’s stance as well as the swing.
“I think he did make the pitch he wanted,” manager AJ Hinch said. “My question with the pitch would be, if you look at Yuli’s stance before that pitch and on that pitch, he was pretty wide open. His front foot was back a little bit which would indicate to both the pitcher and catcher that he was clearing some space inside.
“I don’t know how much you can see that from the front, but that would be my question about that pitch.”
What Chafin saw was that Gurriel, regardless of his stance, was unable to get to a middle-middle four-seamer. Attacking him up and in and tying him up even more seemed like a the right way to go.
“If they have a reason behind what they’re doing, it never bothers me,” Hinch said. “The result hurt either way. Chafin doesn’t do anything without having a reason. He wanted to push it further inside. I am perfectly fine with a player competing that way if they’re prepared.
“If they’re just throwing it in there for the sake of trying something different, that’s ill-advised.”
There have been sliders that Chafin has hung and gotten away with. He’s got a 59% whiff rate with his slider. He gets hitters to chase pitches out of the strike zone 35% of the time. The odds of Gurriel clearing his hips and bringing his hands in like he did on one of the firmest four-seamers Chafin has thrown all year were long against.
Baseball.
“It’s a b—,” Chafin said. “It’s a beautiful b—-.”
Around the horn
With the loss Tuesday, the Tigers have officially, mathematically been eliminated from playoff contention. It’s eight straight years now since they’ve been in the playoffs.
… Hinch spent a few minutes before the game Sunday talking to Justin Verlander, who is scheduled to come off the injured list and start for the Astros on Friday. “I joked about him coming back to Detroit and not being active,” Hinch said. “I said I also noticed he’s stayed in the dugout an extraordinarily long time, getting a little love from the fans. But I’m glad he’s healthy and he’s looking forward to his next start. I’m going to look back and be really proud that I managed him.”
chris.mccosky@detriotnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky