When the Detroit Tigers traded Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the July 30 trade deadline, there were only two starting pitchers in the rotation in Tarik Skubal and Keider Montero. The rotation had been decimated by injuries, underperformance and a trade.

After the Flaherty deal, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris hinted at a plan to solve the problem.

"We're going to pick up all the pieces and figure it out," Harris said July 30, following the addition of prospects Thayron Liranzo and Trey Sweeney in the Flaherty trade. "We need more starter innings, and we're going to add them internally."

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The plan fell into place during a July 31 meeting in which Harris and manager A.J. Hinch mapped out the pitching strategy of openers and bulk relievers. On Aug. 1, the Tigers had two starters and 11 relievers on their 13-man pitching staff.

"We have plenty of pitching," Hinch said Aug. 1. "We do have a plan in place. It will develop as we get deeper in the weekend."

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The Tigers put their new pitching strategy — made popular by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018 — on display Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 against the Kansas City Royals. On the first day, reliever Tyler Holton started the game as an opener before giving way to starter Kenta Maeda as a bulk reliever. On the second day, reliever Alex Faedo started as an opener and Brant Hurter, who was a starter with Triple-A Toledo, handled the role of the bulk reliever.

Since then, the Tigers have utilized openers and bulk relievers in roughly three of every five games.

Holton, Faedo, Brenan Hanifee, Beau Brieske and Mason Englert (all traditional relievers) have worked as the openers; Maeda, Hurter, Bryan Sammons and Ty Madden (all traditional starters) have worked as the bulk relievers. For the traditional starters, the Tigers found a way to utilize their strengths — and hide their weaknesses — to create opportunities to win as many games as possible.

"There's value in winning," Hinch said Aug. 24. "To me, the winning is going to supersede any notion of what it feels like to start the game versus pitch innings three through eight or nine. The winning is really what we're about here."

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The Tigers have a 7-8 record in 15 games with the new pitching strategy since the trade deadline. Openers have a 1.44 ERA with 18 walks (17.3% walk rate) and 25 strikeouts (24% strikeout rate) across 25 innings; bulk relievers have a 3.47 ERA with 15 walks (5.3% walk rate) and 57 strikeouts (20.1% strikeout rate) across 70 innings.

"I like that they can't stack the lineup against Hurter," Hinch said. "When we played against the (Chicago) Cubs, they had three or four left-handed hitters in the lineup. Once I announce that he starts, see how many left-handed hitters are in the lineup. Part of our job is put guys in a position to be successful and pitch them when they can get the most outs. It's not going to be forever, but it's been effective, and it's why we continue to stick with it in the matchups we've had."

Hurter, a 25-year-old who had a 5.80 ERA as a starter in Triple-A Toledo, has been the most effective of the four bulk relievers since making his MLB debut in early August, registering a 3.18 ERA with one walk and 22 strikeouts in 22⅔ innings.

Throwing strikes is the main reason for his success.

"Every guy is different," Hurter said, "but for me, I'm big on getting in rhythm and not trying to be too quick to the plate and then making sure I get stacked on my back leg. I've felt all of my pitches pretty well, and if I make a mistake on one, I can usually feel why and then make the adjustments. I've been good with that."

Here's the problem: Hurter, a left-handed pitcher, thrives as a bulk reliever because he dominates left-handed hitters but struggles against right-handed hitters. Here's the solution: Coming out of the bullpen, as opposed to starting, protects him from having to face right-handed hitters at the top of the opposing lineup three times in an outing.

Most importantly, Hinch has complete control over when Hurter enters the game.

"I get to choose who the leadoff hitter is, not the other manager," Hinch said.

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For example, Hinch called upon Hurter in Sunday's 4-1 win against the Boston Red Sox to face Wilyer Abreu, a left-handed hitter, with two on and one out in the second inning. On the first pitch, Hurter induced a groundout for an inning-ending double play.

Hurter completed five innings of one-run ball in the victory.

"It was a cool feeling," said Hurter, who hadn't pitched with an inherited runner before in his baseball career. "I've never really gotten that opportunity. Playing baseball for 20-some years, I haven't gotten that opportunity."

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The Tigers have won 15 of their past 21 games, part of an 18-12 record in 30 games following the July 30 trade deadline. The new pitching strategy created by Harris and Hinch is a key reason for the steady success, which has led to an out-of-nowhere postseason push with 23 games remaining in the 2024 season.

In August, the Tigers' pitching staff ranked second in ERA (3.06), third in opponent batting average (.206) and third in FIP (3.53), despite ranking 11th in expected FIP (3.97).

For the results, Hinch praised pitching coach Chris Fetter and assistant pitching coaches Robin Lund and Juan Nieves for keeping every pitcher prepared. He also tipped his cap to every pitcher for buying into the nontraditional strategy of openers and bulk relievers.

"They got to be all in, and our guys have done that," Hinch said. "One thing Fett has preached over and over and over again has been the importance of challenging the strike zone, especially the better the team, the more you got to challenge the strike zone and get into good outs."

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' unorthodox pitching strategy is resulting in wins