Detroit Tigers: Austin Romine and the Game-Winning At-Bat

Breaking down an Austin Romine at-bat in excruciating detail.

Everyone loves a walk-off hit. There’s an exciting, almost mythical feel when batters smite the opposition with a single swing, like Perseus delivering the coup de grâce to the vile Gorgon Medusa. And winning is fun, too.

But baseball games are never actually won or lost on a single play. It takes a whole team working in concert to record 27 outs and score at least one run. And last night it seemed the Detroit Tigers needed every one of their 18 hits to eke out a 7-6 win over the Chicago Cubs.

So it is that Austin Romine’s 9-pitch RBI double in the bottom of the 6th didn’t actually win the game for the Tigers.

It only felt like it did.

Yes, we’re kind of in the narrative-building business around here, and yes, Romine’s hit was just the 4th most important knock of the game based on win probability added…

…but the hit itself was just the final act in a nine-part play. So let’s dig a bit deeper into that fateful plate appearance.

Romine’s opponent in the duel was Rowan Wick, who is absolutely NOT a British candlemaker, but rather a 27-year-old Canadian who was originally drafted by the Cardinals, claimed off waivers by the Padres in 2018, and then traded to the Cubs. Wick seems like a standard-issue middle reliever, with a mid-90s fastball, a high-spin breaking ball, and iffy command.

Austin Romine Pitch 1

Wick tried to steal a strike with a first-pitch curveball here. That’s usually a great idea, but this one just fluttered above the zone and it was an easy take for Romine, who is one of the most aggressive hitters on the team.

Austin Romine Pitch 2

Wick leaves this fastball right over the heart of the plate, but he put enough sauce on it to get a swing-and-miss. In his career Romine has seen 31 pitches like this — 95+ mph four-seam fastballs right down the middle.  On those pitches he has managed 14 fouls, 9 swinging strikes, 5 called strikes, 2 homers, and 1 single.

Austin Romine Pitch 3

Well this looks familiar. Wick throws another 95-mph fastball for a swing-and-miss, though this one was in a slightly better spot. Romine has a pair of singles in his career on pitches like this, but he’s late this time.

Austin Romine Pitch 5

Wick climbs the ladder here and Romine chases, but he manages to make contact and live for another pitch. Wick has seen four consecutive swings from Romine, and now he knows he’ll chase, so what’s next? Does he go even higher with the fastball, or try to bury a curve in the dirt?

Austin Romine Pitch 6

The curve it is!  Cubs catcher Willson Contreras seems to want this in the dirt, but Wick leaves it up a bit. Romine appears to be fooled briefly, but he stays back and manages to get a piece of it. Contreras has a larger part to play in this AB, as we’ll see on the next pitch…

Austin Romine Pitch 7

If we’re looking at the at-bat of the game, then this is probably the pitch of the game. Wick gets Romine to chase another high fastball, and it looks like out number two is imminent. But something goes wrong with Contreras, and for whatever reason he can’t bring in what looks like a very routine pop out. Romine lives!

Austin Romine Pitch 8

Wick and Contreras try the same pitch and same location, a fastball up and away. It makes sense, given the pop up on the last pitch, but Romine seems to make better contact on this one and spoils his 5th consecutive pitch. It’s probably not a good idea to try that pitch a third time…

Austin Romine Pitch 9

Welp. They DO go up and away again, and Wick throws his slowest fastball of the night, which Romine promptly lined to the right field wall at about 98 mph. It’s not surprising Romine hit the ball to right field — he has the 5th highest opposite field percentage in baseball — but it’s just the 4th time in his career he’s put a pitch in that zone into play.

Conclusion

That’s one heck of an at-bat. The Tigers needed a lot more to win, including big hits from Jonathan Schoop, Jeimer Canderlario, and Niko Goodrum, and a huge strikeout from Jose Cisnero, but Romine’s AB was one of the biggest moments of the game.