DETROIT -- Tigers manager A.J. Hinch has been hinting at some rendition of Pitching Chaos since Detroit bolstered their bullpen around the Trade Deadline. He has hinted at managing some of his starters differently down the stretch and into October. On Sunday, with a second off-day in five days looming, a relatively fresh bullpen, and Charlie Morton struggling, Hinch went with it.
It wasn’t quite as unpredictable as what we might see in October, but it was a variety of looks thrown at a relatively young White Sox lineup. But Sunday’s 6-4 loss was a reminder that no matter how many looks Hinch throws at opponents, it only works if the pitchers are throwing strikes.
Six Tigers pitchers Sunday combined to give up nearly as many free baserunners (10) as they gave up hits (11). Their nine walks marked their highest total in a nine-inning game without an intentional walk since Aug. 5, 2022, when seven pitchers combined to walk 13 Rays. They didn’t retire the White Sox in order in any inning. They did so against a White Sox team that has a .305 on-base percentage for the season, third-lowest among American League clubs, though the Sox have a .326 OBP since the All-Star break.
Five of Chicago’s runs either reached base or advanced on walks.
“Ten free passes, either by a walk or a hit-by-pitch,” Hinch lamented. “We thought we were getting away with it for a while, and then in the end we couldn’t. It’s just more opportunities as more guys roll in the lineup, kinda got to deal with the top of their lineup. Again, it just wasn’t a good day on the mound for us with the free passes.”
In that sense, Sunday’s struggles from the bullpen might be a bigger concern than what the Tigers have seen from their starters beyond Tarik Skubal lately.
Morton’s three walks in as many innings continued a pattern from his previous start last Monday against the Mets, who drew four walks and a hit batter from him over 3 2/3 innings. He has given up 14 runs in 11 2/3 innings over his last three starts, a stretch rivaling the early-season struggles that put him in the Orioles’ bullpen for a stretch to work things out.
He knows the issue -- fastball and sinker command -- but he’s struggling to fix it.
“You can’t expect your offspeed to be there for strikes all the time,” said Morton, who threw 72 pitches over three innings and gave up an average exit velocity of 98.2 mph. “That’s hard, but when my curveball is on, I can. … And then it’s the efficiency stuff. I’m 30-something pitches in, in the first inning. That’s going to make the rest of my outing a grind.
“I don’t know. My last start, I felt like my command wasn’t great, either. It’s felt now like I'm getting a little bit sinker-happy. I'm not really relying on my four-seam as much, especially, to righties. When I’m right and I’m good, I’m throwing primarily four-seamers to lefties and righties, mixing in that sinker and just relying on that breaking ball, sprinkling in that little changeup and a cutter and go to work. I feel I’m physically inconsistent with the way I’m throwing the ball right now, especially heaters.”
The surprising struggle came from Troy Melton, whose aggressiveness with his power fastball and secondary pitches alike made him an ideal pitcher to shift to a relief role. He hadn’t battled his command like this since his Major League debut July 23, but he walked Colson Montgomery and Andrew Benintendi back-to-back in both the fifth and seventh innings. Melton got away with the first instance by stranding the bases loaded with a Will Robertson groundout. He paid in the seventh, when Robertson got a game-tying single off Tommy Kahnle.
“I haven’t had an outing like that in a long time,” said Melton, who had walked just five batters over his previous 27 innings. “Obviously bad timing for it, with the team needing a win there. I didn’t do my job. Need to get back out there next time, fix some stuff and do better.
“I don’t think it had anything to do with the hitter. I just didn’t execute pitches, didn’t throw strikes. Happened to be the same guys both times.”
The Tigers have lost nine of their last 13, and two of those wins have come with Skubal on the mound. The only other starter with a win in that stretch is Casey Mize from last Wednesday against the Mets. But it’s how they’ve lost that causes more consternation. They’ve walked four or more batters in six of those games and lost five of them.