Unlikely Tigers Pitcher Could Wind Up Saving Struggling Rotation

The Detroit Tigers have been one of the best teams in Major League Baseball all season long, and a ton of the strong showings have come from a pitching staff that can be relied upon to deliver quality starts day in and day out.

Over the last month or two, though, injuries and inconsistency have plagued this staff with numerous guys spending stints on the injured list like Reese Olson and Casey Mize, while others have not performed their best such as Jack Flaherty.

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Tarik Skubal has been dynamite and even better in his follow up to his AL Cy Young-winning campaign, but he cannot do it alone.

As they did so many times during last year's epic run, the Tigers have had to get creative with where to find innings, and their victory this past Thursday to avoid dropping the series against the Athletics was no different.

Just hours before the game, Detroit announced they were calling up journeyman veteran left-hander Dietrich Enns to start the contest.

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Enns had not pitched in a Major League game since 2021, and before nine appearances that year with the Tampa Bay Rays, he had not toed the rubber since 2017 with the Minnesota Twins.

Spending stints in both Japan and Korea, Enns may have been the most unlikely hero the Tigers could have possibly drawn up.

None of that mattered when he tossed five innings of one-hit shutout ball with four strikeouts.

Enns looked a whole lot closer to a 10-year veteran than someone making the second start of their career and first since 2017.

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After winding up in Toledo following an offseason minor league deal with Detroit to return to the United States, Enns made the most of his opportunity with a 2.89 ERA in 14 starts.

Now just one start into his big league Tigers career, Enns looks like he could have the makings of someone capable of actually helping this team down the stretch.

Detroit can't let some flashes from Enns deter them from searching for pitching help at the deadline, but they were always going to need someone to step up if they were to have any chance of replicating the success from the first two months of the year in the rotation.

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The common thought would have been one of the established starters raising their personal level of play if that was going to happen.

With this team, though, it's hard to predict who is going to be the next breakout player, and right now, Enns has that title.

If the Tigers really have found someone they can trust to give them quality starts down the stretch, it's going to go a long way towards this team being able to make the kind of run fans believe it can.

For more Tigers news, head over to Tigers On SI.