Detroit — When Matthew Boyd came out to pitch the sixth inning in Cleveland Saturday he was at 77 pitches and he’d allowed just four hits to that point. Still, the Tigers’ bullpen was already stirring.
Welcome to COVID ball. With the dramatic uptick in pitcher injuries already this season (up more than 40 percent over the first four-week stretch of last season), the Tigers and other teams, generally speaking, aren’t going to be stretching their starting pitchers much beyond 90 pitches this season.
“This is a different year,” manager Ron Gardenhire said before the game Tuesday.