The Detroit Tigers changed their batting order Wednesday for the finale of their series against the Tampa Bay Rays, moving three-time All-Star Gleyber Torres out of the leadoff spot he occupied a night earlier.
Detroit beat Tampa Bay 4-1 on Tuesday at Comerica Park and will try to take the series with another win.Torres is hitting third. He led off Tuesday’s game and now drops two places in the order.
Brett Callahan is batting first and starting in left field. Callahan did not start against the Rays on Tuesday.
Kevin McGonigle is batting second at shortstop. Torres follows him at second base.
Colt Keith is the designated hitter and cleanup hitter. Dillon Dingler is catching and batting fifth.
Zach McKinstry is in right field and hitting sixth. Spencer Torkelson bats seventh at first base.
Max Clark is in center field in the eighth spot. Hao-Yu Lee starts at third base and hits ninth.
The shift puts Torres in a more traditional run-producing spot after he opened the previous game. Callahan gets the first look at the Rays’ starter after sitting out Tuesday.
Torres has been a regular part of Detroit’s lineup this season. In 74 games he has eight home runs, 10 doubles, 35 RBIs and a .261 batting average.
That follows last season with the Tigers, when he played 145 games, hit 16 home runs, drove in 74 runs and batted .256.
He has at least one hit in each of his last two games and in eight of his previous 10 appearances. Detroit will look for that production to continue from the three-hole.
The Tigers are trying to string together back-to-back wins after Tuesday’s result. The order mixes established names with younger players, including McGonigle, Clark and Lee.
Torres remains at second base. The change is about where he hits, not where he plays.
Callahan’s return to the top of the order is one of the clearest differences from the previous night. He will try to get on base and set up McGonigle and Torres.
Keith, Dingler and McKinstry give the middle of the order a mix of left- and right-handed bats behind Torres. Torkelson, Clark and Lee fill out the bottom third.
Lineup decisions like this often come down to recent at-bats and the matchup on a given afternoon. Torres had been used at the top of the order Tuesday and now moves into a spot where he can drive in runs if the first two hitters reach.
The Tigers will try to build on Tuesday’s pitching and timely hitting. Torres has been a steady presence at the plate of late, and the club is asking him to do that work from a different place in the order.
Detroit’s Wednesday lineup keeps most of the same names in the field while rearranging the top third. How that group produces against Tampa Bay will determine whether the Tigers leave town with a series win.
