Dramatic Pickoff Move Highlights Stellar Night For Nathan, Tigers
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
COMERICA PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Stakes could not be much higher in a regular season game.
The Detroit Tigers led the first-place Kansas City Royals, 4-2, in the ninth inning Tuesday night. Thanks to a pair of infield singles, the Royals had runners at first and second with no outs and the heart of the order - starting with Alex Gordon - coming to the plate.
On the mound stood 39-year-old closer Joe Nathan, the longtime reliever whose brilliant career has been belied by inconsistency in his first season with Detroit.
Nathan fell behind in the count to Gordon, 2-0. Gordon fouled a pitch off, then took a strike, then watched a ball. With the count full and the home crowd on its feet, Nathan struck Gordon out swinging. The Tigers still needed two more outs, and two runners still lurked on the base paths.
The Royals had replaced Omar Infante on first with a faster alternative, and after Gordon's strikeout, Kansas City took Nori Aoki - not exactly a slowpoke himself - off second base and substituted speedster Jarrod Dyson. The moves set off warning bells for Detroit's already astute defenders.
"Right there the tying run's at first base," Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler recounted after the game. "They already took Infante out of the game, put the speed on first, and when he did that [replaced Aoki], I assumed that he was just trying to put some more pressure on us and open up those holes. I mean that draws me closer to second and can open up a hole for Perez, but we kind of got a feeling there that he was going to try to steal third."
Kinsler communicated those suspicions to Nathan, making eye contact and giving him a sign.
"[Dyson] had a big lead, there was pressure, and Joe understood that situation, and we understood what was going on," Kinsler said. "Inside moves are free. They don't cost anything to make that move, so you might as well give it a go, and we felt like he was going to run right there. Joe came up as a shortstop, and he's got a good inside move, but he's also got a good pick to second.
"He's very athletic," Kinsler added. "He's got quick feet. So I knew that we had opportunities there to try to pick the guy off, and we were able to get him."
Indeed, Nathan picked Dyson off second base, whipping the crowd into a frenzy, and the moment seemed so big - and so redemptive for Nathan and a Tigers team that has endured its share of struggles - that it felt almost anticlimactic when Nathan ended the game with a strikeout of Perez.
Nathan said getting the pickoff in such a significant situation - the win tied the Tigers with the Royals for first place in the American League Central Division - made it particularly special.
"If it happened earlier this year, would it have as much energy? Maybe, because it doesn't happen all the time, but for it to happen in this big of a game in this big of a series just made it tenfold," Nathan said. "With everything that's gone on, to have this happen as well is definitely nice."
The Tigers, 11-4 against the Royals this season, face Kansas City again Wednesday and three more times later in September.