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At the time it didn't seem like a big deal.

Or even remarkable.

The Tigers lost 7-0 to Cleveland in Game 1 of the ALDS on Sunday when Tigers manager AJ Hinch brought in Keider Montero.

He went two innings and held the Guardians scoreless while recording three strikeouts and allowing just one hit.

But overall it was hugely important.

Because behind the scenes, Montero had been working on some changes to his pitching mechanics, and this performance proved that those changes were working.

Recap Wednesday afternoon: Montero will start in Game 3 against Cleveland.

“He performed well against these guys,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “He has spin. It has four fields and with this team you can’t stay in the same place and in the same place.”

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The 23-year-old Montero will make his 17th start this season. In 98⅓ innings, he had 77 strikeouts and only 31 walks.

“Keider Montero has been really good for us most of the time up here,” Hinch said. “He learned a lot. He is developed. He's an adult. He was also able to make adjustments.”

The Guardians will use veteran right-hander Alex Cobb, who was an All-Star in 2023 as a member of the San Francisco Giants and will make his third career postseason start.

Houston, we have a problem

Montero was not on the Tigers' playoff roster when they played the Houston Astros in the wild card series.

But Montero traveled with the team and threw a few bullpens in front of the Tigers' coaches while he worked on his technique.

“I really like the work he did in the Houston series to prepare,” Hinch said. “We needed to get his body moving a little better than he did at the end of the year.”

When you can't repeat your delivery, when your mechanics are messed up, everything becomes unbalanced and Montero began to have difficulty executing punches.

“He started spraying the ball a lot at the end of the year, so we took him off the roster with a real work plan: 'Hey, we need you to do this in the two bullpens,'” Hinch said. “The work he did while he was inactive in the wild card series was really important. You know, we wanted to move his body better. We wanted him to get his delivery back in order. We wanted him to be able to make all of his pitches and not devolve into a two-pitch pitcher.”

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He proved those changes worked against Cleveland.

At the time, it looked like the Tigers were just trying to eat innings.

But it was actually important.

“Game 1 ended up being really good,” Hinch said.

That's why Montero had the go-ahead for the biggest game at Comerica Park in a decade.

“He can mix his pitches very well,” Hinch said. “This is a team against which you have to be unpredictable and you can't keep telling them the same thing. And he's used to starting. We informed him about this yesterday and planned his work accordingly and he will be ready to get started.”

Contact Jeff Seidel: [email protected]. Follow him on X @seideljeff. To read his latest columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.

On By John Fenwick

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