Detroit Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch Predicted the Future Against Kansas City Royals
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The Detroit Tigers are rolling right now.
Winners of three straight over their AL Central rivals, they have a chance to earn a sweep of the four-game set on Sunday with their superstar ace Tarik Skubal on the mound.
While the final scorelines might not suggest it, the Tigers have had to battle during the past two games, coming from behind after a first inning deficit on Friday and then breaking a multi-inning gridlock on Saturday when Spencer Torkelson hit a three-run homer.
That moment on Saturday was manufactured by manager A.J. Hinch, however, and it seems like he might have predicted the future.
Chris McCosky of The Detroit News shared that Hinch discussed the 19th at-bat of the game before the first pitch took place, calling it "a big decision point" for Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro since that was Kerry Carpenter's third time through the order.
Hinch created that lineup and scenario by putting Carpenter in the leadoff spot for the first time in the slugger's career.
What Hinch envisioned came to fruition, with the decision by Quatraro being to keep his starting pitcher -- right-hander Seth Lugo -- on the mound to face the lefty-hitting Carpenter.
That resulted in a two-out single that moved Javier Baez into scoring position, although his positioning didn't matter much since Torkelson bashed his three-run homer that cleared the bases.
Naturally, the headlines coming out of this game was about Torkelson.
He's putting together an incredible season in the early going, a testament to him based on what the conversation was about his job security coming into the year. And since he was the past No. 1 overall pick of the Tigers who was supposed to become the face of the franchise, seeing him perform this way will rightly garner a lot of attention.
But this was another example of the magic that Hinch provides his team.
He thought ahead about what type of predicament the Royals might be in later in the game, creating a pain point with the creation of his lineup for a specific matchup and scenario.
And it paid off to result in an important win for his team against a division opponent.
Hinch might not be able to actually see the future, but his ability to think ahead so he can put his team in the best possible position to succeed is a huge asset.
