TORONTO — A few fans in the stands groaned when the Detroit Tigers brought struggling right-hander Kenta Maeda out of the bullpen Sunday to face the Los Angeles Dodgers — his first relief appearance since being removed from the starting rotation.

Another meltdown seemed inevitable.

The exact opposite happened, however, as Maeda — who had a 7.26 ERA in 16 starts before landing in the bullpen — received a well-earned standing ovation from the fans at Comerica Park for his brilliant performance, throwing 3⅔ scoreless innings with five strikeouts.

"It's easy to say that was the best stretch in a while," manager A.J. Hinch said. "When Kenta came off the mound, I hope he realized how happy our fans were for him in that moment. It's been a rough stretch for him as a Tiger, and he earned that ovation."

The praise from Tigers fans meant a lot to him.

"Ever since joining the Tigers, I haven't been able to contribute positively with my pitching," Maeda said in Japanese, through intrepreter Daichi Sekizaki. "With an ovation like that, with my good pitching, that really made me feel great. I just hope to continue to do that going forward."

The 36-year-old will remain in the bullpen in the immediate future, but he hopes to earn his way back into the rotation at some point before the end of the 2024 season. One spot in the rotation is expected open up after the July 30 trade deadline.

As for Maeda, he has handled the reassignment with class.

He knows he needs to be better on the mound.

"It's simply a result of me not pitching well this season," Maeda said, "and at this point, what I can do is refine my pitching, take this opportunity to do well and hopefully be back to the starting rotation."

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Maeda signed a two-year, $24 million contract with the Tigers — $14 million in 2024 and $10 million in 2025. The Tigers expect him to help the young pitchers develop by setting an example with command of all types of pitches inside the strike zone.

His on-field performance hasn't been exemplary, not until Sunday.

"I think it's a combination of both," Maeda said, diagnosing his pitching problems. "It all started with me being off with my mechanics, and I had to search for my command from time to time, and as I did that, I wasn't putting up results, which gave me lack of confidence at times, so I think it's a combination of both."

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Maeda contributed positively to Sunday's 4-3 win over the Dodgers with 3⅔ scoreless innings, covering the fourth, fifth, sixth and the first two outs of the seventh in the bullpen-only game.

He faced the minimum 11 batters.

Maeda generated multiple swings and misses with all three of the main pitches in his arsenal: fastball, splitter and slider. On top of that, his main three pitches were sharp together for multiple innings for the first time during his Tigers tenure.

His fastball averaged 92.9 mph (up from 90.3 mph), his splitter averaged 85.9 mph (up from 83.6 mph), and his slider averaged 83.3 mph (up from 82 mph).

In Sunday's game, Maeda looked like everything the Tigers expected him to be when he signed the multi-year contract.

"I think all the velocities and movement not necessarily have to do with knowing that I'm only in there for a short outing," Maeda said. "It's more of, when things weren't going well, I focused and was too mindful of the shapes of the pitches and how it broke and things like that, but today, I just focused on letting it rip and using my full arm action, and I think that led to the sharpness and the velocity of my pitches."

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Maeda is available to pitch out of the bullpen in the Tigers' three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, which began Friday.

The goal is for Maeda to continue his success and return to the starting rotation, but if that doesn't work out, he is already building a track record of thriving in a relief role.

"We need Kenta to build off of this," Hinch said. "We know we have a good pitcher in there. He's taken some steps. It's the best fastball he's had, which comes with the best split. He threw a few less sliders, but the ones he threw were pretty effective."

Javier Báez, Mark Canha updates

Outfielder Mark Canha (right wrist injury) and shortstop Javier Báez (lower back injury) exited Saturday's game against the Dodgers, the second-to-last game before the All-Star break. Both players received treatment for their injuries during the break.

Canha returned to the Tigers' lineup for Friday's series opener against the Blue Jays, but Báez wasn't in the lineup. Báez, though, will start Saturday's game.

"He's available and feeling great," Hinch said of Báez.

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Both players participated in a pregame workout before Friday's game.

"It's being smart, managing my preparation and not overdoing it," Canha said, when asked how he plans to manage his health in the final two-plus months of the season. "Not too many swings. I think that's going to be big moving forward, but then also making sure I'm in the training room every day doing whatever I can to help myself out."

Zach McKinstry, who started at shortstop Friday instead of Báez, is a .308 hitter with two home runs across 13 plate appearances in his career against Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Kenta Maeda reacts to new bullpen role, dominant first relief appearance