How good was the Tigers’ rotation in their first series sweep at Yankee Stadium since 2008? Even displaced Tigers starters were shutting down the Bronx Bombers. Keider Montero’s move out of the rotation this week following Jack Flaherty’s return from the injured list was a tricky one, considering how well he has pitched as a starter. His 3.31 ERA ranked eighth among qualified AL pitchers as of Wednesday night. His 0.99 WHIP sits third, just behind Yankees ace Cam Schlittler. He has held hitters to a .212 batting average, fifth lowest in the AL, just behind Jacob deGrom. But Montero’s move to the bullpen wasn’t a punishment. The Tigers weren’t going to use a six-man rotation with off-days coming up Friday and Monday. Someone had to be the odd man out, but that someone also had to be useful in the bullpen when the situation called. For Montero, that situation came in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s 6-2 win. Troy Melton’s 6 1/3 scoreless innings and seven strikeouts had put the Tigers in position to sweep, but two ninth-inning runs off Drew Anderson had forced extra innings. The Tigers needed not only outs from Montero, but strikeouts. The Tigers’ failure to score in the top of the 10th left the Yankees in position to win it by simply moving the automatic runner along. Spencer Jones stood on third with one out after José Caballero’s sacrifice bunt. Suddenly, a starting pitcher with a 16.1 percent strikeout rate, which ranked in the bottom 11 percent of MLB pitchers, according to Statcast, needed strikeouts. “He’s very unique,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “because I don’t think it really fazes him. Part of it is his confidence in himself. A lot of it is about his pitches. “He has an incredible mindset. If you could hand his mindset to a lot of young pitchers, where they just take the ball and attack the hitter -- doesn’t matter if it’s the top of the first, bottom of the first, at Yankee Stadium in the 10th, last year in Seattle in extra innings \-\- he just has a competitive spirit about him and a belief that he’s going to be able to execute.” Montero answered the call, fanning Oswaldo Cabrera on a slider in the dirt, then overpowering Ali Sánchez with a 97.2 mph fastball -- three ticks above his season average -- to end the threat. “Incredible,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “Keider’s been incredible at it his whole career. He’s not afraid of anybody, and he’s going to attack the zone no matter what.” And as the Tigers built their winning rally with a four-run 11th
