Miami — One good game doesn’t erase two rough months, for sure. But it’s a good start.
Tigers’ lefty Joey Wentz looked like a different pitcher Saturday than the one we saw through May and June. Recalled from Triple-A Toledo before the game, he was used as the bulk-innings reliever after opener Beau Brieske and he impressively blanked a good Marlins’ offense for 4.2 innings posting six strikeouts in the Tigers’ 5-0 win.
“I feel like I’m in a good place,” he said.
And given where he was after giving up six runs and two home runs in 4.2 innings in Texas on June 28, the night he was told he was being optioned out, that’s saying a lot.
“I think he controlled his emotions and he controlled his reaction to misfires,” manager AJ Hinch said after the game Saturday. “I think he used his pitches well. The curveball was pretty good today. He didn’t get into patterns. There’s a lot of growth we’re seeing with him and we’re going to keep challenging him.”
He made four starts for Toledo and seemingly got stronger with each one, culminating with a 12-strikeout performance in his last one on July 21. He cleaned up some things in his mechanics, worked on his fastball command, but, as he said, there was no major overhaul.
“Anytime you get sent down people think it’s these massive changes,” Wentz said. “For me it was just simplifying some things I was doing and trying not to have as many poor misses in my stuff. It more just, take a break, clear my head and go play baseball for a little bit.”
The starkest difference between the pitcher who was sent out at the end of June and the one who came back up Saturday was the command he had on all four of his pitches. He threw 23 four-seam fastballs with an average velocity of 93 mph and off that threw a clever mix of 21 changeups, 21 cutters and 11 curveballs.
And the secondary pitches were painted. The changeup and cutter were thrown a tick slower than his season average — 1.5 mph slower on the changeup and 2 mph slower on the cutter — and they seemed to have better movement. That, Wentz said, was a happy accident.
“Yeah, not planned,” he said. “But I think both were decently effective today. I was able to throw them well. I felt like I was able to land pitches when I needed to. The beginning wasn’t too clean but I felt like I got better as the game went along.”
He faced one crisis point and it came in the third inning, his first inning of work. He faced right-handed hitter Jon Berti with runners at the corners and two outs and he fell behind 2-0. But he dotted the outside black with a cutter and then painted back-to-back changeups, getting him to fly out center.
“You’ve got to slow the moment down a little bit,” Wentz said. “Take a breath. In my head, I was just thinking about trying to make a pitch.”
He didn’t get a lot of swinging strikes, but the 12 balls the Marlins put in play against him had an average exit velocity of 80.6 mph – lots of soft contact. And, importantly, the Marlins right-handed hitters were 3 for 13 against him, three singles.
In May and June teams loaded their lineups with right-handers and did severe damage against Wentz — .293 average, .520 slug, .872 OPS with 14 of the 16 homers he’s allowed.
“Certainly today was great,” he said. “I found out I was coming back up and you want to help the team. It feels good to do it.”
Wentz is likely to stay with the Tigers through the trade deadline and probably beyond. He could slide back into the rotation if Eduardo Rodriguez and Michael Lorenzen end up being traded. Also, to manage the workloads of Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson and other starters, the Tigers are contemplating going to a six-man rotation in September.
As Hinch has said many times, there is a good Major League pitcher inside Joey Wentz. Performances like Saturday validate the club’s faith.
Short-Maton
Over the last three games, the suddenly productive hybrid of Zack Short and Nick Maton has produced eight hits in 11 at-bats with three doubles and an RBI and a run scored.
Useful, no? Especially from players who, standing alone, are hitting .175 (Maton) and .225 (Short).
“Yeah, there’s a lot to like about mixing and matching those guys,” Hinch said.
The left-handed hitting Maton started at second base Saturday and went 1-for-2 against right-hander Johnny Cueto. When the Marlins brought in lefty Steven Okert, the right-handed hitting Short pinch hit and rapped a double.
Hinch followed by sending up right-handed pinch-hitter Matt Vierling for lefty Akil Baddoo and he lined a single to left. Short appeared to score on the play but he was called out. Video review was inconclusive, so the call stood.
Short then doubled again, delivering the fifth run of the game off right-hander JT Chargois in the ninth.
Short-Maton was 3-for-4 Friday night, too.
“Being able to get a couple of base hits is nice,” Hinch said. “And when we bring Short in later in the game we get the upgrade in defense, too. As a combo, they’ve been pretty good.”
Short is slashing .268/.339/.411 with a .711 OPS against left-handed pitching. Maton has done almost all his damage against right-handed pitching, seven home runs and eight doubles.
Around the horn
Right-hander Spencer Turnbull (neck) made his second rehab start at High-A West Michigan on Sunday. He went three innings, threw 33 pitches with 24 strikes. He gave up a single and a two-run homer (first-pitch fastball) to the first two batters then breezed through his three innings.
…If Short had one takeaway from being thrown out at the plate in the seventh inning Saturday, it was ditch the gloves. “If anything, he tagged my batting gloves,” said Short, who tucks his batting gloves into his back pockets after he gets on base. “That will be the last time I run with batting gloves in my pocket, I promise you. I never thought that would be a thing.”
…Hinch was asked if using an opener on Wentz’s start days was sustainable. “You can sustain an opener for anybody, once the bullpen gets whole again,” he said. “You have to do it with eight relievers. With six-man rotation, it’s much harder to pull off.” Hinch said he has not made any pitching plans beyond the Pittsburgh series, obviously waiting to see how things shake out after the trade deadline.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky