Lakeland, Fla. — It wasn’t a make-or-break start for Tigers’ right-hander Matt Manning Friday. There’s still too much time before he would be making his first regular-season start to put that much weight on it.
But make no mistake, it was time for Manning to step it up after a couple of wobbly starts and some worrisome pitch metrics in his previous two starts.
“We’d like to see progress,” manager AJ Hinch said before the Tigers beat the Yankees 8-7 in a home run-filled spring game at Joker Marchant Stadium. “You only have so many reps.