KANSAS CITY -- For many teams, squandering a gem of an outing like what Tarik Skubal gave the Tigers on Saturday would linger for days. For the Tigers, Sunday was a chance to return the favor.
It wasn’t pretty, Sunday’s 1-0 win over the Royals. While lefty Kris Bubic picked up where Michael Wacha left off and stymied Detroit’s offense, the only 1-2-3 innings the Tigers recorded on the mound came from Chase Lee in the seventh and Will Vest in the ninth. But as is often the case with the Tigers, the beauty of their success is in the details, the little snippets that can get lost along the way.
It’s in the bold turn Zach McKinstry made around second base as his line drive bounced towards the right-field corner leading off the third inning. He was challenging the baseball gods and risking the first out of an inning at third base, but he was doing exactly what the Tigers have preached on the basepaths since last summer.
“If you’re afraid to make an out there, you pull up at second,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s being aggressive, and it’s a bang-bang play at third. If he had gotten thrown out, we’re probably not talking about that inning.”
It was a risk McKinstry had weighed out of the box.
“Just knowing the outfield here, knowing that fence, it kind of wraps quick and it gets deep right there,” McKinstry said. “I figured it would have to be a perfect relay, perfect throw on the money to get me.”
McKinstry went from home to third in 11.48 seconds, according to Statcast, the fastest time by a Tiger this season by a quarter of a second, and in the 89th percentile among MLB players this year. He needed every fraction of a second to beat the relay throw after the ball bounced right to right fielder John Rave.
“Who knows if we’re still playing if he had pulled up,” Hinch said.
Had McKinstry stopped at second, he still would’ve had just the fourth extra-base hit by a left-handed hitter off Bubic this year. But by taking third, he set up the look of despair from All-Star catcher Salvador Perez two batters later as Bubic’s sweeper bounced past him and rolled towards the Royals’ on-deck circle.
McKinstry didn’t get a quick read on that ball, but he didn’t have to.
“I thought it was blocked straight into the ground,” McKinstry said. “I lost the ball, and [Perez’s] body was in the way, so I didn’t really see it. And then everybody’s like, ‘Go!’ So I just took off.”
It ended up being the only run of the game, allowing the Tigers to win a game without an RBI for the first time since Sept. 4, 2003, a 2-1 win over Cleveland that included then-Tigers catcher A.J. Hinch hitting into a double play to score one run.
McKinstry wasn’t the only Tiger whose legs helped win Sunday’s game. In the bottom of the inning, starter Keider Montero rushed to third to cover first base on a double play ball hit by Drew Waters with runners on first and second.
Montero has become a regular sight running the stadium steps in empty ballparks as part of his day-after-start routine. It served him well when he smelled an opportunity at an inning-ending double play. The way the Royals run, he didn’t want to squander it by being a step late.
“As soon as I saw the ball on the ground, I made that huge sprint to first base,” Montero said through translation from the Tigers. “I wanted to make the double play, because I know they’re very fast. I didn’t want to give them any chance to stay on base.”
McKinstry, playing shortstop with Trey Sweeney getting a day off, saw Montero bolting for the bag and fired a fastball.
“I was just trying to get the ball to him,” McKinstry said. “And he kind of pimped it, too.”
Montero’s run left him staring at first-base umpire Bruce Dreckman after getting McKinstry’s throw and touching the bag. Once Dreckman confirmed the out, Montero pumped his fist, a rare show of emotion from him.
Games like this are as much behind the Tigers’ MLB-best 39-21 record -- their best 60-game start since 1984 -- as Skubal’s gem last Sunday. This one clinched the Tigers’ fifth consecutive road series win, this one over a division rival in which the Tigers scored one run over the final two games.
“When we lose, the guys are like, ‘Shake it off, we’re going to get tomorrow,’” said Vest, who recorded his ninth save. “I think that’s what this group is really good at, treating every day the same, win or lose.”