Detroit Tigers right-hander Michael Lorenzen hugged manager A.J. Hinch upon completing his sixth inning. He walked down the dugout and received high-fives from his coaches and teammates.
Lorenzen, for the third start in a row, had pitched a gem.
The 31-year-old racked up a season-high seven strikeouts across six scoreless innings, leading the Tigers to a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in Tuesday’s opener of a two-game series at Comerica Park.
The Tigers improved to 19-21.
“He got a lot of funny swings, or a lot of takes, and he was filling up the strike zone,” Hinch said of Lorenzen. “He did lose it for a little bit and regained himself. His adjustments were nice. He pitched six really solid innings.”
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In his past three starts, Lorenzen has a 0.90 ERA — allowing two earned runs over 20 innings — with four walks and 11 strikeouts. He posted seven innings of one-run ball with one strikeout May 3 against the New York Mets and seven innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts May 3 against the Cleveland Guardians.
His success over the past three starts is a product of a simplified pitch mix, as instructed by the Tigers’ coaching staff and advance scouts. He threw five pitches in Tuesday’s win — 33 fastballs, 26 sliders, 24 changeups, 11 sinkers and five sweepers — despite having seven pitches in his repertoire.
“I think they were trying to (take) my changeup down, so I got a lot of fastball takes down,” Lorenzen said. “I was able to throw for my fastball for a strike down in the zone. I think they were (taking) it because they assumed it was going to be a changeup. That’s really where (the strikeouts) came from.”
Lorenzen walked one batter in each of the first and second innings (Carlos Santana and Ji Hwan Bae) before dialing in the location of his pitches. A conversation with Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter, sometime around the third inning, changed his outing.
After the chat, he cruised through the final four innings while continuing to record strikeouts.
“I was definitely fighting against my body early on,” Lorenzen said. “Even though your body doesn’t feel great, trust that your stuff is going to do what it’s supposed to do. I felt like my body opened up, and I started trusting my stuff more, and my stuff got better.”
After back-to-back strikeouts in the fifth inning, Jason Delay and Andrew McCutchen hit back-to-back singles. A perfectly executed slider at the bottom of the strike zone got Bryan Reynolds to line out to right field and end the inning.
Lorenzen worked around a two-out single in the sixth inning to complete his outing. He generated 13 whiffs — four fastballs, four sliders, four changeups and one sinker — and 17 called strikes.
“My goal is to go out and attack the zone and fill up the zone, and it makes it that much easier knowing you have a cushion,” Lorenzen said. “A solo homer is not going to beat you, so you feel confident in throwing strikes and letting your defense work.”
Tork & Greene drive offense
The Tigers, more often than not, were patient in their plate appearances against Pirates right-hander Luis L. Ortiz. Although Ortiz sprayed the ball — throwing just 44 of 81 pitches for strikes — the Tigers didn’t chase outside of the strike zone. Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson led the way for the offense.
Two runs scored in the first inning.
Riley Greene doubled to right field and scored on Javier Báez’s ensuing single through the hole and into right field. Both hitters drilled sliders to put the Tigers ahead, 1-0, from the beginning of the game. Báez crossed home plate for a 2-0 lead when Torkelson hit Ortiz’s slider for a double to left-center field.
“That was our approach the whole time,” Torkelson said. “Get a good pitch to hit and make him come to us. He could be a little wild, so we were really selective, and I think that showed in the game.”
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The Tigers scored two more runs in the third, which started when Torkelson cranked a fastball for another double to left-center field. Akil Baddoo hit a two-strike changeup for a single with one out, and he advanced to third base — while Torkelson scored — on a throwing error from Ortiz on a pickoff attempt.
Later on, Baddoo scored on a wild pitch from Ortiz.
Ortiz allowed four runs (three earned runs) on seven hits and four walks with three strikeouts in three innings.
“Get a good pitch,” Greene said. “The skipper always preaches to get a good pitch and take your walks when they come. Our goal was to get a good pitch today, and I feel like we did a pretty good job of that.”
In the first inning, the Tigers had the bases loaded with one out due to walks by Nick Maton and Akil Baddoo. Miguel Cabrera struck out swinging, and Andy Ibáñez hit a 405-foot flyout to center field. The flyout would have been a grand slam in 20 of 30 MLB parks, but not at Comerica Park, even with its revised center-field wall.
Oh, that bullpen
After Lorenzen’s six innings, right-hander Will Vest threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to get the Tigers through the eighth inning. He has a 1.42 ERA with 15 strikeouts across 12⅔ innings.
“Those are two really big innings,” Hinch said. “His changeup has come a little ways. He’s regained his confidence that was missing in the spring. His execution has gotten better. He’s a really good bridge and can be used in a lot of different roles.”
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Right-hander Jose Cisnero pitched a scoreless ninth inning. He shut down three straight batters and struck out the final two batters he faced: Ke’Bryan Hayes and Tucupita Marcano.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.