Detroit — Controlling the strike zone in baseball is the equivalent of controlling the line of scrimmage in football. You can’t win games if you don’t. On both sides of the ball.
And yet, for how much it’s been painstakingly preached and prioritized since the day Scott Harris was hired as president of baseball operations in Detroit, the adaptation and application of the concept has been slow to take hold.
Tigers’ hitters struck out 27 times over the weekend in three losses to the Red Sox at Comerica Park. Ten of those hitters were punched out with runners on base. The pitchers walked 15 hitters, nine of those hitters ended up scoring.
In a small, nine-game sample against a fleet of top-end pitching, Tigers’ hitters have the third-highest strikeout rate in baseball (26.9%) and the fifth-lowest walk rate (7.4%). They also have the fifth-highest chase rate (32.4%) and the sixth-lowest contact rate (73.5%).
As manager AJ Hinch said after the 4-1 loss Sunday, “We have to continue to hone in on contact and moving the ball into play because we’re swinging at pitches inside the zone and not swinging dangerously outside the strike zone.”
It’s easier said than done, of course. There’s more to controlling the strike zone than “having a good eye” at the plate. And plate discipline is as much about having a plan and sticking to that plan as it is swinging at strikes and taking balls.
The same for pitching. It’s far more nuanced than “just throw strikes and get ahead in the count.”
Take lefty starter Matthew Boyd’s performance Sunday. He was the first to admit he didn’t throw enough strikes (46 out of 75 pitches) and didn’t get ahead of hitters as much as he normally does.
Four walks in 4.2 innings isn’t acceptable for him. But he did throw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 22 batters he faced. Two of those first-pitch strikes, though, led directly to the two runs he allowed.
There’s more to it than getting to strike one.
“It’s understanding who the hitter is and it’s understanding when to expand the zone and when to really attack the zone,” Boyd said. “And it’s understanding what pitches to throw. Some hitters will sell out to a fastball and if you put it in the right spot, you’re going to have success.”
If not, a first-pitch strike can lead to damage. Just like it did in the second inning Sunday. After Boyd walked Kiké Hernandez on four pitches, he attacked left-handed hitting rookie Triston Casas with a 90-mph four-seam fastball.
Casas belted it into the right field corner for an RBI double.
“I got beat,” Boyd said. “It was a fastball, knowing he can be aggressive to first-pitch heaters in the zone. I tried to go somewhere else with it and I just missed (over the middle of the plate). That’s going to happen.”
Fast forward to Casas’ next at-bat in the fourth. Boyd again walked Hernandez and fell behind Casas 3-0. He threw three straight sliders to get back into the count and then struck him out swinging at a 92-mph four-seam fastball, almost in the same spot as the one Casas hit for a double.
“I got behind so I’m going to go that pitch (slider), go to that pitch, go to that pitch and then beat him with the pitch he beat me with later in the at-bat,” Boyd said. “The situation will dictate what you throw.”
Boyd got Boston catcher Connor Wong to pop out on a fastball up in the zone in the second inning. He threw the same pitch to him to start his next at-bat leading off the fifth inning and Wong slapped a double to left field.
He ended up scoring on a single by Rob Refsnyder.
“It’s just part of the game,” Boyd said. “You go in knowing the guys who are going to swing early and be aggressive and we know we can go to a pitch to exploit that maybe have some success.
“But if you don’t execute the pitch, they will hurt you early in counts.”
There is a Statcast statistic that measures pitchers’ percentage of called strikes and swinging strikes — CSW%. The Tigers are at 23.5%, which is second-worst in baseball.
“We’re not a good first-pitch strike pitching staff right now and we’re not missing a ton of bats,” Hinch said. “We’re not getting into leverage counts. If you do that against teams that can roll their lineup to some pretty good hitters, you are going to find yourself behind.”
If the Tigers don’t accelerate the adaptation and application of the control the zone mandate, they are going to find themselves behind a lot.
At 2-7, they are embarking on a rugged, possibly season-defining stretch of games. Starting Tuesday night in Toronto, they will play 31 straight games against teams who finished above .500 last season.
“We all have things we can work on,” Boyd said. “As fast as the 2-7 happened, it could be 7-2, as well. You always realize you are a game away. You just have to make that adjustment and put in the work. We have a good group of guys to do that and we’ve got great leadership to do that.
“And we plan on doing it.”
On deck: At Blue Jays
▶ Series: Three games at Rogers Centre, Toronto
▶ First pitch: All three games at 7:07 p.m
▶ TV/radio: All three games on Bally Sports Detroit/97.1 FM
▶ Probables: Tuesday — RHP Matt Manning (1-0, 3.18) vs. RHP Alek Manoah (1-0, 4.38); Wednesday — LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (0-2, 6.30) vs. RHP Kevin Gausman (1-1, 0.00); Thursday — RHP Spencer Turnbull (0-2, 13.50) vs. RHP Chris Bassitt (1-1, 10.61).
Scouting report
▶ Manning, Tigers: If he was a question mark coming out of spring, he answered in the positive with a strong 5.2-innings in his season debut in Houston. His four-seam fastball, with a velo range of 91-96 mph, had good life (a spin rate increase of 131 rpm) and got seven called strikes. His slider, which he is throwing slower to get more sweep, got four swinging strikes and weak contact.
▶ Manoah, Blue Jays: He’s coming off a gem against the Royals. He allowed only one hit in seven scoreless innings. Manoah’s four-seam, slider, sinker combo has been lethal against right-handers. Lefties, with the changeup being Manoah’s fourth pitch, at least have had a fighting chance against him. Left-handed hitters have a career OPS against him 200 points higher than right-handed hitters.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky