Tigers' Late-Season Surge Getting Great Protection from Bullpen
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The Detroit Tigers salavaged the series win against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday winning 3-1 in 10 innings after a superb start from ace Troy Melton.
But there is something more encouraging about this Tigers heater that is not the outings they got from their starters.
The thing that Tigers fans should be talking about is the bullpen in the last seven games. They have only given up four runs total in their past seven games, and the Tigers went 5-2 in stretch which easily could have been 7-0.
Tigers Need Bullpen to Keep on Rolling
The Tigers only sit one game back of the Texas Rangers for the final wild card spot in the American League and the relief pitching is a huge reason for that. Guys like Kenley Jansen, Tyler Holton, and Kyle Finnegan among others are doing their job and more.
Holton earned the save for the Tigers in the 10th once the Tigers and Giants got through the ninth inning still tied at one and Detroit took the lead in the 10th inning. Jansen pitched a perfect ninth inning to get the game to extras.
Knowing how much Tigers fans say that their bullpen is a weakness, well it has not been a weakness in the last week alone. The Tigers traded starting pitchers Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize at the MLB trade deadline recently.
And the fact that they traded them and manager AJ Hinch is still getting a lot out of his starters and bullpen, says a lot about how resilient the team really is. The Tigers are a team that could scare others if they were to make the postseason especially with the bullpen on their game.
Most baseball fans did not expect the Tigers to stay within striking distance of the playoffs after they dealt Skubal and Mize. But they are right there and if they keep playing their game, they might just make it after they sold at the deadline.
And if they do make it, Hinch's bullpen is going to have to be ready to answer the call. The work that they are doing right now is going to have to continue in October if Detroit is to get that far.
The fact that the Tigers almost got to the ALCS last year speaks to how the bullpen should be prepared for anything. They know what to do and how to play and how to get there, it is just about execution.
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Tyler Miller is a 26-year-old Sports Journalist who has had a passion for writing ever since graduating from Georgia Southern University with a Journalism degree in 2022. Tyler has been writing about sports for going on 8 years now. Tyler has been a Detroit Tigers fan ever since Miguel Cabrera was tearing up the league in the early 2000s and has followed them from there till now with superstar Kevin McGonigle being in the mix. Tyler also has had experience writing for FanSided in the past where he was a site expert and a contributor across different sites.