Texas Rangers at Detroit Tigers

The Tigers invested big in a star-studded rotation to help them go for it in 2026. They picked up a big win Sunday night by taking a page out of manager A.J. Hinch’s “pitching chaos” playbook from two years ago, when they didn’t have enough starters to fill out a rotation but enough arms to make a run to the playoffs. “Felt nostalgic, for sure,” catcher Jake Rogers said half-jokingly. And if the Tigers make another run this October with their formidable starters lined up, they can look back at Sunday’s 7-1 win over the Rangers as a potential turning point. On a night when Rangers right-hander Jack Leiter looked unhittable for four innings, the Tigers traded zeros with him by mixing and matching relievers until they got the big swing they needed. “Huge,” said Spencer Torkelson, whose two-run homer in the fifth swung the game in Detroit’s favor. “I think it’s just huge for our confidence. There’s so many different ways to win a baseball game. Even when a starter’s got all of his pitches working and he’s punching us out every other batter, we can stay locked in, because someone’s going to get a mistake and someone’s going to be able to capitalize.” Sure, they’d rather have a dominant starter rolling like Leiter was. And between Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez, they have plenty of opportunities for those type of outings. But it probably says more about this team that it can still win a game this way. “I’m just really, really proud of our mindset,” Hinch said, “as much as I am for our production.” Two years after Hinch popularized the “pitching chaos” label, it’s still a bit of a misnomer. What looks chaotic from the outside -- pitchers entering at nontraditional points in a game -- often hides the logic behind it. Sunday was about more than filling the innings left when Casey Mize went on the injured list last week. It was about winning a series and putting together back-to-back victories for the first time since the last homestand (April 22-23 against the Brewers). Once lefty Tyler Holton jogged in from the bullpen to open the game and right-hander Brenan Hanifee immediately began warming, Hinch’s logic began to emerge: Match up lefties for Brandon Nimmo and Corey Seager early in the order, then look for length behind them. “I trust Tyler Holton against any group of hitters,” Hinch said. “When he’s at his best, he’s pretty incredible. When he’s not at his best, he’s very competitive and will give us everything that he has. He’s used to it. It’s not new to him