MINNEAPOLIS — Mickey Lolich probably just rolled his eyes.
Will Vest started his second game in this series against the Twins. No Tigers’ pitcher has started multiple games in a series since Lolich pitched two complete games against the Yankees in the Bronx on June 21 and June 24, 1973.
Lolich totaled 14.1 innings in those two games (one rain-shortened, the other he got walked-off). Not quite the same for Vest, who pitched the first inning of a pair of bullpen games, totaling 1.2 innings.
Different times.
And yet, the Tigers are now 3-0 in bullpen games after they hung on to beat the Twins 6-4 Sunday, winning three out of four at Target Field.
Back-to-back home runs by Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter broke a 1-1 tie and ignited a five-run fifth inning, chasing Twins’ right-hander starter Louie Varland.
Torkelson and Carpenter both smashed cutters. Torkelson, with Jake Marisnick on third base after he opened the inning with a triple, sent his eighth homer of the year 419 feet into the seats in left. Carpenter’s was an opposite-field shot, 403 feet. It was his fifth homer and first since coming back off the injured list.
Andy Ibanez had three hits in the first five innings, two doubles and an RBI single. Javier Báez, who tripled and drove in the Tigers’ first run in the first inning, also singled and scored in the fifth. Miguel Cabrera hit a long sacrifice fly to the wall to plate the fifth run in the fifth.
The Tigers ended up hitting six balls off Varland with exit velocities of 100 mph or more.
But here’s the thing about these bullpen games: They may not be sustainable over the course of a long season. And, in the Tigers’ case, they are being deployed out of desperation because of all the injuries to starting pitchers.
But they can also be extremely effective.
“The day after a bullpen game is the most stressful,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “But getting through the day of the bullpen game is pretty energizing because every pitcher thinks he’s going to pitch at any given moment and I can maximize the lineup the best I can.
“It’s tough on the other side to combat that.”
Hinch played his cards like a shark Sunday.
— He pulled Vest with two outs and two on in the first inning, calling on lefty Tyler Holton to face left-handed hitting Max Kepler. Holton struck him out.
— Holton gave up a run in the second but did his job by working through left-handed hitters Joey Gallo, Edouard Julien, Willi Castro and Alex Kirilloff — striking out three of the four — before turning it over to right-hander Brendan White with two outs in the third.
— White got six straight outs with three strikeouts before Hinch brought in lefty Chasen Shreve, again using him to get the lefties at the top of the order, which he did.
— With two outs in the sixth, Carlos Correa singled off Shreve. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli sent up right-handed hitting Royce Lewis to hit for Kepler. Hinch countered with right-hander Jose Cisnero, who struck him out in three pitches.
At that point, Baldelli had taken two of his top three left-handed hitters out of the game, which matched up well with the back-end of the Tigers’ bullpen — right-handers Cisnero, Alex Lange and Jason Foley.
“There’s a reason why managers use these games in playoff games or high-stress games,” Hinch said. “You want to match up and give your guys the best chance for success. So if you’re healthy and can absorb the innings, it’s a terrific tool that can make it difficult on a particular lineup.
“It’s tough to build lineups against it.”
One of the pitfalls of using a string of relievers, though, is the likelihood that one or more might not have their best stuff that day.
Lange was that guy Sunday. He entered in the eighth inning with the Tigers’ up 6-1 and didn’t get an out. He walked two, hit Michael A. Taylor in the back of the head with an 83-mph curveball, gave up an RBI double to former Tiger Willi Castro and threw a wild pitch that brough in a run.
He gave up three runs and left with the bases loaded.
Jason Foley, though, bailed Lange and the Tigers out. He gave up an RBI single to Solano (the last run charged to Lange), but retired Kyle Farmer on a shallow fly to left and punched out Gallo and pinch-hitter Byron Buxton.
Foley threw 16 two-seam sinkers with an average velocity of 98 mph.
He closed it out in the ninth, striking out Ryan Jeffers and Julien looking and getting Castro to line out to left. Incredible performance.
There is a toll to pay, too, for so much usage.
“The next day you pay the price,” Hinch said. “The starting pitcher has a lot of pressure on him. You contemplate your roster moves and things like that. But that’s our reality right now until we get healthier here pretty soon.”
Rookie Reese Olson will be tasked with giving the Tigers some length Monday against the Royals at Comerica Park in his fourth big-league outing.
Asked if there could eventually be a fallout from this much work, reliever Tyler Alexander said, “Probably. We’ll deal with it when we get there. It is what it is. But our bullpen is built for it. We have long guys, guys that can go one-plus and two innings. We’re built for it and we’re going to keep grinding through it.”
