In the final inning of the Detroit Tigers' 2024 regular season, manager A.J. Hinch got ejected for the first time all season.

With the Tigers trailing the Chicago White Sox 9-5, Hinch called up Zach McKinstry to pinch-hit for Jake Rogers to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning. McKinstry connected with a fastball and sent it out to the alley in right-center field. White Sox right fielder Dominic Fletcher raced under the line drive and made a bobbling, over-the-head catch. Replay showed the ball seemingly come in contact with the right-field wall while Fletcher was bobbling it, but the out stood after video review.

Hinch immediately came out of the dugout despite being told to stay by the umpires and earned an automatic ejection. He had a spirited conversation with the umpires for a few moments before retreating to the clubhouse. It was his first ejection of 2024 and his seventh in four years with the Tigers.

"I'm not sure you had an ejection on the final day of the season on your bingo card, but if you did, you win," Hinch said after.

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Hinch said he argued vehemently because they had planned on getting McKinstry an at-bat in the finale and didn't want what he thought to be a clear hit taken from one of his players.

"I just told them I understand an automatic ejection but they took away a hit from Z-Mac," Hinch said. "I thought it was pretty clear that it hit the wall. Maybe they didn't have the right angle. You can see by the reaction of the right fielder and I just thought it was an injustice, like deserved to hit it.

"Who knows how that inning goes but defending our team, defending Z-Mac, that was easy."

McKinstry said he didn't have an angle to see what happened on Fletcher's catch, but saw the bobble on the video board at Comerica Park. He didn't pay much attention to the marathon of replays that incensed the crowd, choosing rather to catch up with White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas, a friend from their days in the the Los Angeles Dodgers' farm system. He watched Hinch immediately come out of the dugout to come to his defense as he left third base.

"It was awesome," McKinstry said. "We play 27 outs here and every one of them count. We played that way all year and will continue to play that way."

That Hinch came out to fight for his players after the final game was nearly decided was a testament to Hinch's attitude with the players throughout the season as they surged late to claim a playoff spot, McKinstry said.

"He just wants to see us do great things out there," he said. "He just wants to see us do great things out there and he's our biggest fan, biggest supporter. He just continues to fight for us every week."

The Tigers quickly went down in order in the ninth to seal the 9-5 loss, while the Kansas City Royals beat the Atlanta Braves in their final game to tie Detroit and take the second wild-card spot in the American League on the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Tigers begin their wild-card series Tuesday on the road against Hinch's old team, the AL West-champion Houston Astros, and have to win the best-of-three series to advance to the ALDS and face the AL Central champions, the Cleveland Guardians.

The Tigers enter the playoffs on a two-game losing streak, their first skid since Sept 2-4. But Hinch is confident his players will be able to turn the page and home in on the stakes of this series against Houston.

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"I think we will reset and be completely ready to go on Tuesday," Hinch said. "And when you get to the playoffs, that margin (between teams) shrinks."

And as for the players, they will be treating the trip to Houston as any other three-game series on the road.

"We are going to play our version of baseball and we are going to go out there and just try to win every pitch, every swing, every game that we can," outfielder Riley Greene said.

Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press covering the city's professional teams, the state's two flagship universities and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22, and email him at jramsey@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch explains his first ejection of 2024