Tigers look to patch outfield communication gaps before playoffs

DETROIT - The final out of the biggest game in the season ended with center fielder Parker Meadows and right fielder Wenceel Perez nearly colliding.

Perez caught the ball; the Tigers won the game and clinched a playoff spot ; and everyone could share a good laugh about the moment after the game on Friday night.

But a day later, they all acknowledged it was a problem that needs to be fixed before the Wild Card Series begins on Tuesday.

Near-collisions have happened a lot recently: Meadows and Perez; Meadows and Riley Greene; and Meadows and Kerry Carpenter.

The common denominator in many incidents is a loud crowd which makes it difficult for outfielders to communicate on balls hit in between them. That was the case on the final out on Friday night.

Meadows' job as a center fielder is to be aggressive and take charge. But he covers so much ground, so fast that conflicts with the corner outfielders can be inevitable.

"There's a happy medium," Meadows said. "I'm the center fielder. We've got to figure out a way to catch fly balls when the stadium's loud, whether it's waving my hands or whatever."

Hinch said Friday's near-mishap was simply a result of eagerness. Neither Meadows nor Perez wanted to take any chances and let the ball drop.

"It was a direct result of everybody wanting to make the play. I don't think it was even miscommunication. It was just they were not going to turn off until that ball was caught," Hinch said.

But Hinch said that outfield communication more generally will be addressed.

"We've had a couple of those lately and we certainly will talk about it and address it, because you got to be careful," Hinch said. "But one of the things that I say all the time is, 'You can't play this game careful.'"

First time in the postseason

The Tigers have plenty of playoff first-timers, most in their early to mid-20s.

Infielder Andy Ibanez, 31, is in his ninth season of professional baseball in the United States, but this will be his first time in the playoffs at any level.

A couple of months, did he ever imagine the Tigers would be in this position?

"If I'm being honest, no," he said in Spanish with a laugh.

But he's been thrilled to watch the turnaround.

"The team is really unified. The players and the coaches work together. That, in my opinion, has been a big factor."

Ibanez has slumped at the plate of late, even against left-handed pitching, which is typically his calling card. But he rapped a critical double in the seventh inning of the playoff-clinching game Friday night.

"It felt good," he said. "It's really difficult when you're working hard every day and you don't see the results. But I've kept a positive mindset and kept working hard, knowing at some moment I would get out of (the slump) and thank God it happened last night."