How Keider Montero went from being off Tigers' playoff roster to starting Game 3 of ALDS

It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time.

Or even noteworthy.

The Detroit Tigers were losing 7-0 against Cleveland in Game 1 of the ALDS on Sunday when manager A.J. Hinch brought in Keider Montero.

He went two innings, holding the Guardians scoreless, while recording three strikeouts and giving up just one hit.

But it was massively important in the big picture.

Because behind the scenes, Montero had been working on some changes to his pitching mechanics and that appearance proved those changes were working.

Flash forward to Wednesday afternoon: Montero will get the start in Game 3 against Cleveland.

“He's pitched well against these guys,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He's got spin. He's got four pitches and with this team, you can't stay in the same the same location, the same spot.”

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Montero, 23, will be making his 17th start of the season. In 98⅓ innings of work, he has 77 strikeouts and just 31 walks.

“Keider Montero has been really good for us, for much of his time up here,” Hinch said. “He's learned a lot. He's developed. He's grown. He's also been able to make adjustments.”

The Guardians will start veteran right-hander Alex Cobb, who was an All-Star in 2023 as a member of the San Francisco Giants and will be making his third career postseason start.

Houston, we got a problem

Montero wasn’t on the Tigers playoff roster when they played the Houston Astros in the wild-card series.

But Montero traveled with the team and threw a couple of bullpens in front of the Tigers coaches, while working on his technique.

“I really like the work that he did in the Houston series to get himself ready,” Hinch said. “We needed to get his body moving a little better than it was towards the tail end of the year.”

When you can’t repeat your delivery, when your mechanics are messed up, everything gets out of whack, and Montero was starting to struggle throwing strikes.

“He was starting to spray the ball a lot at the end of the year, so we left him off the roster with a real work plan, ‘hey, we need you to do this in the two bullpens,’” Hinch said. “The work that he did when he was inactive in the wild-card series was really important. You know, we wanted to get his body moving better. We wanted him to get his delivery back in order. We wanted him to be able to execute all of his pitches and not migrate to a two-pitch pitcher.”

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He proved those changes were working against Cleveland.

At the time, it looked like the Tigers just trying to eat innings.

But it was actually important.

“It came out really good in Game 1 on the back end of that,” Hinch said.

So, that is why Montero got the start in the biggest game in Comerica Park in a decade.

“He can mix his pitches very well,” Hinch said. “This is a team you have to be unpredictable against and not kind of feed them the same thing over and over again. And he's accustomed to starting. We let him know yesterday and planned his work around it, and he'll be ready to go.”

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com . Follow him on X @seideljeff . To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel .

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Keider Montero went from being off Tigers' playoff roster to starting Game 3 of ALDS