Detroit – If veteran right-hander Alex Cobb can work his way back to the Tigers’ active roster, and he’s doing everything within his power to do so, he will be used in a bullpen role.
“We shrunk down the expectations internally on how long he can go in a game,” manager AJ Hinch said Wednesday. “We’re trying to see how the two- and three-inning stints go and how he bounces back from that.”
Cobb pitched three innings out of the bullpen for Triple-A Toledo at Rochester Tuesday night. He entered the game after starter Sawyer Gipson-Long and pitched scoreless and hitless innings in the sixth, seventh and eighth.
He threw 36 pitches, 26 strikes and struck out the side in the seventh.
“Whether he opens or comes in like he did last night behind Sawyer and pitch multiple innings, we told him we need to see that as part of his rehab,” Hinch said. “We also want to keep him stretched out to 30, 40, 50 pitches and we need to be sure he can get up and into the game.
“He accomplished that last night.”
Hinch hadn’t heard back from Toledo Wednesday on how Cobb felt in the morning. The expectation is he will pitch out of the bullpen again for Toledo this weekend.
Cobb, signed in the offseason for $15 million to bolster the rotation, has missed the entire year because of recurring inflammation in both hips. He’s remained a positive presence in the clubhouse and has taken multiple injections in each hip, some biologic and platelet based, some corticosteroid medication.
It’s fair to ask why he’d put himself through this, at age 37 and at the end of a 14-year career. And his reasoning is two-fold: He desperately wants to be a part, even a small part, of what this team accomplishes this year.
“I’ve never been on a team with this type of potential,” Cobb told a group of reporters earlier this month. “Obviously we have a real chance to do something really special. If I was ever on a team and we were the last team standing and we got a nice little trophy and a ring, I’d want to stare at that ring and feel like I did everything I could to contribute, even if it’s just a little bit.
“I’d feel a lot more pride in that if I could stare at that ring and know that, even if it wasn’t the expectation I had for my season, I contributed in some sort of way.”
And two, he doesn’t want to end his career on the IL.
“As the diagnosis has come in and the pain sets in and you realize the challenges that are in front of you, I think realizing where you are at in your career and the possibility of things being over, final, to think about never stepping on a big-league mound again … I think it hits you pretty hard and gives you a motivation to want to have that feeling again, to compete against the best,” Cobb said.
“Once you’re done, you’re done. Your childhood dream is over, and I don’t want to have that feeling.”
Stealing home?
The thought crossed Zach McKinstry’s mind, for sure.
Scoreless game Tuesday night. He’d just roped his ninth triple to lead off the fifth inning. After Dillon Dingler grounded out, McKinstry noticed third baseman playing well off the bag with left-handed hitting Trey Sweeney and then Colt Keith in the box.
He could take as long a leadoff as he wanted. Plus, Astros pitcher Hunter Brown has a long delivery to the plate.
“I thought about stealing home,” McKinstry said. “It felt like I had a real chance.”
Third base coach Joey Cora was encouraging McKinstry to push his lead aggressively so he could score on a ball in the dirt or wild pitch.
But while McKinstry was tempted, Hinch wasn’t remotely considering such a move.
“If you can tell me he’s going to be safe, for sure,” Hinch said. “But what looks tantalizing doesn’t mean it’s possible.”
There has been one steal of home in the big leagues this year, by Boston’s Jarren Duran.
“It’s not a play that’s regular,” Hinch said. “You have to be really sure. What looks like it would be cool to try is only cool if it ends well.”
Fun to dream, though.
Around the horn
Tarik Skubal posted his ninth start with at least 10 strikeouts on Tuesday, which ties Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser for the third-most in a single season in club history. Skubal also reached 200 strikeouts in his 25th start. With that he passed Max Scherzer (2014) for the most in that span in franchise history.
… Skubal and Curt Schilling (2002) are the only pitchers in baseball history to post at least 200 strikeouts with 25 walks or fewer in his first 25 starts of a season.
… The last time the Tigers won a game in extra innings with a walk-off walk? How about Aug. 6, 1948, when Hoot Evers “walked” it off against Washington, according to research done by the Elias Sports Bureau.
@cmccosky