Right place, right time: How the key positioning decision helped the Tigers win the playoff game

DETROIT – When the bat hit the ball in the decisive moment of the game Wednesday afternoon, Matt Vierling was in exactly the right place.

The Guardians had two baserunners on in the bottom of the seventh inning to score David Fry for a potential game-winning run in Game 3 of the ALDS. The Tigers brought in right winger Will Vest to counter him.

On the sixth pitch of the shot, Vest threw up a sinker and in this Fry caught the flush. He sent his bat flying toward left field at 102 miles per hour.

But the ball flew right over Vierling's head, so low that the third baseman was able to make a quick leap to snag it for the final play. He celebrated with an emphatic fist bump.

“I just try to be ready for the ball,” Vierling said. “I know he likes to pull the ball a lot, I know he's trying to get his head out. I was just prepared for whatever came my way and I really didn’t think, I just had to react.”

The play was the defining defensive moment for the Tigers: The Guardians didn't have another baserunner for the rest of the game as the Tigers won 3-0.

And the deciding factor in the game was Vierling's positioning – in the back of the infield, a few steps from third base. A few steps in either direction and he would have had little chance of hitting a ball at that speed.

Tigers manager AJ Hinch said hours of research went into such positioning decisions by the Tigers. The pitcher and type of pitch are taken into account, as are the batter's tendencies.

But while there is plenty of data available, Hinch doesn't want to ignore the value of his instincts when making such a decision. He said both analysis and instinct played a role in positioning the Tigers' biggest defensive play in their biggest game of the year.

“You never want to lose sight of one side of this question,” Hinch said. “You don’t want to lose the information. You don't want to lose the instincts. And when both come together, you can achieve great success at the crucial moment of the game.”

For pitcher Beau Brieske, the game was emblematic of the Tigers' improbable run.

“It’s just a comprehensive play for the way we approached this whole run. When you have to make a play, someone makes it, and when you have to make a pitch, someone makes it,” Brieske said.

“It just sums up the way we've approached this and the guys are stepping up and I feel like the guys are continuing to get stronger.”