Postseason Press Conference: A.J. Hinch on Tigers ALDS Game 4 Win in Detroit | 10/8/25

Postseason Press Conference: A.J. Hinch on Tigers ALDS Game 4 Win in Detroit | 10/8/25

Not much to cover. Not much to cover. Yeah. We’ve talked throughout about Riley, you know. Yeah. How big how how big of a break of a seal moment was that just for him to get that that blast? I mean, he’s first off, he’s incredible. And I know, you know, there it’s been some tough times or some some, you know, a few games or um but he but he never concedes, you know, and and he is a tough kid. He’s had to endure a lot. you know, I play him every day. He’s in the middle of the order. He gets managed against and he comes up big um right when you need it. So, that was a big swing, but that was one of many parts of this game and many parts of our roster who contributed to a to a big win in in the biggest win of the of the year. So, uh proud of our guys because, you know, today’s game was symbolic of how we roll. you know, it’s a lot of different guys doing something positive. Multiple guys, you know, getting on base, lead leadoff batter on base, five innings in a row. Um, an entire bullpen. Troy Melton on three days rest. You know, Will coming in in a big game. I mean, I could go on the entire the entire time because of um how many guys did something positive. Oh, AJ back here. just um it was kind of the tale as you mentioned of two games when you guys were down three nothing that crowd was getting a little iate and for you guys to be able to put the offensive explosion up and kind of win them back. Could you kind of just talk about Yeah. I mean, obviously this is an emotional game for everybody, fans included, and and you know, everybody’s kind of living on every pitch and um in the dugout you try not to ride that emotion just because you know the 27 outs are going to be played regardless and you got to keep fighting and it it’s hard, you know, like it’s um we knew our season was on the line. This is not the first elimination game that we’ve played this this postseason and and our guys stayed loose and stayed in the game and and came up with some really big um pitches and some big swings and and you need all of it. And you know, obviously I know how much this matters to our fan base, to our city, to our season. Um and you know, we’ve you know, we’ve we’re one more win away from bringing baseball back to America again. a little AJ before the floodgates opened up. Uh Jamai Jones with that big pinch hit. Just talk about what he’s meant to this team. Yeah, he’s he’s been a big part and you know he patiently waits every day for his opportunity and and whether it’s um you know it’s it’s pushed a little closer to the middle of the game now with the the urgency of the playoffs, but generally it’s against backend left-handed relievers in in a critical moment of the game. And he’s he knows the strike zone, he knows where the barrel is. um he’s unafraid and and he’s and he’s fully prepared. And so um as that inning was building, you know, it was a lot. It was Dingler’s base hit. It was, you know, we needed to chip away is what it felt like. And and Jamai comes up big with another pinch hit. So it’s his role. He’s really good at it. Um there’s a reason why we stay consistent with giving him those opportunities is because of his impact. And um you know, obviously was was a was a big part of this win. Uh AJ, when you took Casey out of the game, what was kind of your message to him? And then at that point, I think you still had 18 outs to go. Did you know that Troy Melton was going to have to take down a bulk of those outs at some point? For sure. The last part is we knew we were trying to get the ball to Melton and we didn’t know when it was going to be. You know, when I talked to Casey, I took him in the tunnel. Those cameras are a funny thing. They follow me everywhere. And I I um I just wanted to tell them that the best chance for us to to um not only keep this game close but win this game was to continue to throw different pitchers at them. You know, it’s been a successful strategy for us, Casey definitely could have gone out, but when the game dropped us off at Naylor and we have our full aotment in the pen, including Troy, um Tyler, I knew Finnegan, you know, vest was going to throw a careerhigh pitches if we needed. like we were all hands on deck and so the aggressive move to the pen was to try to give them a lot of different looks. I didn’t you know Naylor I watched the first at bat where it was a lot of pitches. He gets the double. Kzone is u another tough hitter. They have him in the seven hole to to connect those two where they can pinch hit. So if I was going to take him out at the KZone at bat, I wasn’t going to send him out there to get in trouble when we had, you know, a couple of matchups that we like. So, it didn’t work out to start, but Tel Finnegan came in and saved the the day with the double play despite it, you know, you know, contributing to a run. AJ, your your hitters have been saying it’s coming. They feel it’s coming. They’ve been close close. Did you think this much was coming? And is the whole hitting contagious thing is that legit now? You know, I I think I think recent memory can can can lead you to think that this is how it’s been all season and it hasn’t been. Like we we have been a good offensive club for a large majority of the season, but because of how we finished and some of the dry spells in September and um it just tricks you into believing that we’re not an offensive club and we really are. You know, we don’t put those numbers up on the board by accident. And so like you need some confidence, you need a nice little boost, you need to connect at bats. We talked about it before the game where you need one and two and three good things to happen in a row and we did that. And it wasn’t um just the big swings. I love the big swings. Um but there’s also some singles in there. There was the um Dingler at bat where he gets the you know we we finally get on the scoreboard. It’s McKinstry not only moving the runner but hitting the ball to right field after Torque who’ gotten on base. So there’s you know when you can you know with Wel coming off the bench and finally feeling good about end of an at bat. those things all contribute and they matter and um you know I I think it it shows that that there’s still a good offensive club in this in this in this clubhouse and um we need another effort like like that and results like that come come Friday. Could you comment on Jav’s approach and composure? He did everything perfectly today. I mean it was amazing. He just he rises to the moment, you know, and and um you know, the near miss homer is always that feeling of like what what you know what was barely missed. But in um you know, Jav Jav loves these these big games, these big crowds, these these opportunities to uh to do something great. And you know, I he he is a steady force in the middle of our field. You know, I um every time I go out on the mound to to change a pitcher, which seems to be a lot, I um you know, Jav’s always there with some sort of calmness, even more so in the postseason than in the regular season. And I really appreciate that out of him because he’s been there, he’s done it, it matters a lot to him and and the big swings. Um whether it’s a base hit to right, whether it’s the the pullside homer, um and everything in between is pretty uh pretty magical to see. AJ, off that, I mean, you’ve been through so much with Javi. What’s it like for you to see the best version of him kind of reemerge here in the playoffs? It’s very rewarding to watch him uh play with some joy. you know, I mean, he’s had to endure a lot. Whether it’s the frustration at the beginning of his Tiger tenure to the to the injury and missing out on on what was an incredible season last year, um to this year, the ups and downs, the all-star nod to to scuffing a little bit in the second half to um you know, even out of the lineup or getting pinch hit for to now being a huge part of the bottom half of our order um to to roll the lineup forward. So, um, our best team has him, you know, doing some some pretty, uh, impactful things and and I know the work that goes into it. I know how much it matters and that that makes it even more rewarding. AJ, were you surprised they went to Spire with Meadows and did it looked like you guys were super aggressive against Spire based on some early swings? You know, we going into the game, you know, we talked about it being an elimination game for us, but we also knew it was going to be a very aggressive game for them and and you obviously we we we had a comfortable lead where they weren’t going to get too many more of their backend guys. But no, it didn’t surprise us just because um you know, game game five elimination games are something to avoid when you’re on the the the the lead side too when it comes to going into game four. So, we knew that Spire was going to be a part of it. Um, had it been closer, Brasham Munoz would have been a part of it. You know, it there’s no secrets when you get this deep in a series. One more. Sure. AJ Terrick’s about to be in the same spot he was a year ago. Can you speak to to what that means for him to get that chance so so quickly and then maybe what he gained from that experience last year? Yeah, I mean I I I think, you know, sitting in my chair, um, one of the easiest things to do and one of the most exciting things to do is hand the ball to the best pitcher in baseball. You know, I mean, this guy should have, um, you know, more hardware on his on his mantle and he’s going to he’s he’s going to be recognized because of the work that he’s done during the season. But I he’s so prepared for this moment. He obviously is somebody deeply trusted in our clubhouse to to bring intensity, to bring high-end pitching and bring results. And um we win together, we lose together. Uh but he leads us, you know, and he’s a big a big presence going into game five as we get on this plane to go across the the country. Um, we got a lot of optimism, you know, heading that way because of the, um, the presence of Terk Scubble.

Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch talks about the Tigers forcing a game five with a big win over Seattle in ALDS game four in Detroit.

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