While Detroit's bats erased a six-run deficit, a flawless relief corps silenced Chicago for six straight innings, proving the surging bullpen is the backbone of this postseason push.
When a team comes back from six runs down, the offense is naturally going to get most of the attention. Hao-Yu Lee tied Friday night's game with a two-run homer, Dillon Dingler put Detroit ahead and Riley Greene provided insurance with another home run.
The Tigers never get to that point, however, without their bullpen.
Chicago led 6-1 after the first inning and stretched the advantage to 8-2 when Miguel Vargas homered off Beau Brieske in the third. From there, Detroit's relievers completely stopped the game from getting away. Brant Hurter, Tyler Kinley, Drew Sommers and Kenley Jansen combined to cover the final six innings without allowing another run.
Hurter began the turnaround with a scoreless fourth and recorded two more outs in the fifth. Kinley finished that inning and worked a clean sixth. Sommers followed with two perfect innings, striking out five of the six batters he faced, including Colson Montgomery, Braden Montgomery and Vargas consecutively in the eighth immediately after Detroit had taken an 11-8 lead.
Jansen then handled the ninth in order to finish the comeback. He retired Sam Antonacci and Randal Grichuk on fly balls before striking out Munetaka Murakami.
Friday's performance also fits into a better September stretch for much of Detroit's bullpen. According to the FanGraphs numbers from Sept. 1 through Sept. 18, Jansen has not allowed an earned run in 6 1/3 innings, Tyler Holton owns a 1.08 ERA over 8 1/3, Hurter has a 1.93 ERA, Kinley is at 2.25 and Brieske has a 3.00 ERA over nine innings.
Across the 10 relievers in that FanGraphs sample, the Tigers have a 3.30 ERA over 62 2/3 innings. Kyle Finnegan accounts for nine of the 23 earned runs allowed, posting a 14.29 ERA in 5 2/3 innings. Remove Finnegan's innings from the calculation and the rest of that group has allowed 14 earned runs over 57 innings, a 2.21 ERA.
That distinction became more relevant this week. Detroit placed Finnegan on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Sept. 16, because of left groin inflammation. MLB lists his expected return as 2027, effectively ending his regular season, while the Tigers recalled Ty Madden from Triple-A Toledo.
Finnegan's absence removes one of the veterans Detroit expected to use in important innings, but his recent performance had already complicated that role. The September numbers suggest the Tigers have received better results elsewhere, particularly from Jansen, Holton, Hurter and Kinley.
Friday was a good example of what that group can provide. The Tigers did not need the bullpen to protect a lead when it entered the game. They needed it to keep an 8-2 deficit from becoming 9-2 or 10-2 while the offense worked its way back.
