DETROIT – When the bat hit the ball in the biggest moment of the game on Wednesday afternoon, Matt Vierling was in exactly the right place.
The Guardians lined up two baserunners in the bottom of the seventh inning to bring David Fry to the plate as the potential game-tying run in Game 3 of the ALDS. The Tigers brought in right-hander Will Vest to face him.
On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Feist threw a sinker up and it caught Frye. He left his bat at 102 mph heading toward left field.
But the ball went right over Vierling’s head, low enough for the third baseman to make a quick jump to scoop it up for the rest of the game. Celebrate with an emphatic fist pump.
“I’m just trying to be ready for the ball,” Vierling said. “I know he likes to pull the ball a lot, and I know he’s trying to get his head out. I was ready for anything that came my way and I didn’t really think, I just had to react.
The play stood out as the crucial defensive moment for the Tigers: The Guardians did not have another starter for the rest of the game as the Tigers held on for the 3-0 win.
The deciding factor in the play was Vierling’s positioning – near the back of the infield, a few steps from third base. A few steps in any direction, and he wouldn’t have much of a chance of hitting the ball that fast.
Tigers manager AJ Hinch said hours of research go into Tigers positioning decisions like this one. Both the pitcher and pitch type are taken into consideration along with the hitter’s tendencies.
But even with so much data available, Hinch doesn’t want to underestimate the value of instincts in a decision like this. He said analytics and instincts played a role in designing the Tigers’ biggest defensive play in their biggest game of the year.
“You never want to lose on either side of that question,” Hinch said. “You don’t want to lose information. You don’t want to lose instincts. And when both come together, you get a big opportunity in a big moment of the game.”
For pitcher Bo Briskey, the play was emblematic of this unexpected run for the Tigers.
“It’s just an all-encompassing play to the way we’ve done this whole round, just if you need to make a play, somebody makes it, and if you need to make a throw, somebody makes it,” Briskey said.
“It sums up the way we’ve gone about this, guys are stepping up, and I feel like guys are going to keep stepping up.”
