Anibal Sanchez admitted being traded to the Tigers from the Marlins in July made him as comfortable being the guy in the middle seat between two offensive linemen flying from LaGuardia to Los Angeles.
But the comfort level has changed. Winning does that.
“Right now, I’m really together with the team,” said Sanchez, the Tigers’ ALCS Game 2 starter against the Yankees and Hiroki Kuroda today in The Bronx. “When I came here, it was really tough for me because nobody knew me, especially teammates, how to make friends on the team. But right now everybody is on the same page. I am really excited to be part of this team, especially the rotation, a pretty good rotation right now.
“I feel really, really happy to be part of this and in this part of the season.”
The Tigers feel the same. The right-handed Sanchez, who came over from Miami with second baseman Omar Infante in July at the cost of two prospects, will be a free agent after the season. Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski said, “He is a guy we have interest in, sure.”
Why not? Sanchez started 2-5 with the Tigers, but steadily improved. In his past eight starts, Sanchez was 3-3, allowing 13 earned runs in 54 1/3 innings. That’s a 2.15 ERA, outstanding even by Justin Verlander standards. He pitched well but lost Game 3 of the ALDS in Oakland.
“He got to know the manager, the pitching coach, he got to know his teammates. His wife was pregnant and going to have a baby, they just had a child here recently,” manager Jim Leyland said of Sanchez’s transition. “There’s a lot of stress and things that go along with moving to another team.”
Sanchez has a history with the Yankees — beyond getting lit up for seven earned runs in a 12-8 loss on Aug. 8 in Detroit. He made his major league debut with the Marlins in 2006 and pitched seven shutout innings to beat the Yankees in the old Yankee Stadium.
“I got my debut in the old stadium, and this was the first time my mom come to U.S. I got a really good story about that,” Sanchez said.
His story this year has been pretty good, too.
“He’s pitched very well for us, especially once he got his feet on the ground. It took him a little while to get comfortable, like it does a lot of guys,” Dombrowski said. “But once he’d done that, he’s just a real solid pitcher. He’s got good stuff, he knows how to pitch, knows how to use it.”