Kyle Finnegan has pitched in 333 MLB games. His last two were the first two that really mattered. After getting traded to the Tigers from the Nationals last week, Finnegan is on a team with a winning record after the All-Star break for the first time in his six-year career.
Think he's enjoying it? Finnegan notched a four-out save in his Tigers debut, nailing down a win over the Phillies last Saturday. He recorded another save in his home debut, taking care of the Twins in Detroit's 6-3 win Monday night.
Finnegan, 33, looks refreshed in Detroit after a rocky ending to his time in Washington. Much as the Tigers welcomed another high-leverage arm in their bullpen, he welcomed the move to a contender.
"You try to tell yourself that every game matters the same, but it feels different," Finnegan said after Monday night's win. "This is a first-place team trying to maintain one of the better records in the league, so, yeah, I wanted it bad."
The Nationals finished last in their division in Finnegan's first four seasons with the team, which is where they're headed again this year. Their fourth-place finish last year was the high-water mark of Finnegan's tenure. The Tigers have the biggest division lead in the majors, on track for their second straight trip to the playoffs.
But their bullpen looms as a problem. Finnegan looks like part of a solution. An All-Star last season when he racked up the third most saves in the majors, the hard-throwing righty was off to another terrific start this year. He touted an ERA of 2.36 a little less than a month ago, before it nearly doubled after three bad outings. It was 4.38 at the time of the trade.
Finnegan seems to have stabilized. He's also benefiting from some early coaching points on the part of the Tigers, notably increasing his splitter usage. After throwing about twice as many four-seam fastballs as splitters this season with the Nationals, his ratio is about one-to-one so far with the Tigers -- who are known for their advanced pitching department.
"They’ve done a great job of doing their own digging and they’ve had a lot of things for me to work on and ways I can get better," Finnegan said. "Excited to work on those things. Not reinvent the wheel, keep doing what I’ve been doing, but take the advice that they’re giving me and work it into my game. It’s been great so far."
For Finnegan, so has meaningful baseball.