Lobstein Comfortable Back In Detroit, Excited To Start On Sunday
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - When the Detroit Tigers announced they would use Kyle Lobstein as a starter rather than a reliever this season, he knew what that meant: his opportunities to contribute in the big leagues would likely be fewer and farther between.
"It was a little bittersweet, knowing that they were going to have me stretched out as a starter, which I'm comfortable with, but at the same time, they pretty much had their rotation set," Lobstein said Thursday as he stood by a locker with his name above it in the Detroit clubhouse.
"Obviously," Lobstein added, "anything can happen."
Something did happen, of course. Longtime Tigers starter Justin Verlander suffered a triceps strain during spring training, and the team placed him on the disabled list and called up Lobstein.
Lobstein had thrown a simulated game in Florida on Tuesday and was headed to Louisville to meet up with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens when he received word that he needed to change the destination in the GPS.
When Lobstein arrived at Comerica Park on Thursday, he did so with a much different feeling than last season, when he made his major league debut in August.
"I'm not walking into the stadium and wondering which direction to go," Lobstein said with a smile. "There's a lot of worries and tensions that you have in a new setting that I don't have to deal with now, so it makes it that much easier.
"You feel more of a sense of relaxation when you get in this setting now," Lobstein added. "Still really excited to get up here, but feel like I've settled in quicker than I had last year."
Lobstein made seven appearances for Detroit in 2014, including five starts in September during a tight race for the American League Central Division championship.
Lobstein's first start this season will be Sunday against the Cleveland Indians.
"First start of the season, just try and use my pitches as efficiently as I can and really just try to go as deep in the game as I can," Lobstein said. "Obviously at this point in the season, you're still trying to fine-tune things and try and get that pitch count up, so now at this point I'm just trying to go as deep as I can in a game."
Lobstein faced the Indians twice in 2014. In the first game against them, Lobstein allowed two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings and recorded 10 strikeouts. In the second game, Lobstein gave up four earned runs in five innings and logged only two strikeouts. While he plans to look back at what worked well in that first game, he knows the Indians will be doing the same.
"Everything was working that day for me," Lobstein said. "What I can take from that is just how I fared individually against certain hitters. I know they are pretty left-handed-hitter-heavy in that lineup, so I think that should play well for me, being the lefty, but at the same time, they're going to make an adjustment, too. I'm sure they're going to look back at game film, and I'm going to study their guys, too, and just try and play off of that."
Lobstein said his repertoire this season is similar to what it was last season.
"Definitely the curveball is feeling a lot better, but as far as the other pitches, everything's pretty much the same," Lobstein said. "At this point it's just trying to build up arm strength and get used to pitching every five days and having the high pitch count."
Lobstein's fellow starters have set a high standard through the first three games of the season: David Price, Anibal Sanchez and Shane Greene all pitched at least 6 2/3 innings and allowed no earned runs.
