ANAHEIM, Calif. >> Tyler Owens knew what time it was. He knew it was late and his family was almost certainly sound asleep. But he didn’t care. This was one of those phone calls that can’t wait until morning.

“I got the call at 11:30 last night (Wednesday) and then I had to Uber to Boston until 2 a.m.,” he said. “It was a night.”

Owens, the hard-throwing, long-haired, long-bearded right-hander, was summoned by the Tigers to replace veteran Kenta Maeda, who was designated for assignment Thursday.

He was with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Tigers had arranged a crack-of-dawn flight to Los Angeles out of Logan Airport in Boston.

“I called my family, woke them all up,” Owens said. “I said, ‘Hey, you can take off (work) tomorrow.’ They were like, ‘Hope you’re not playing with me right now.’ Nope.

“I called my brother. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be here. But he was so pumped.”

Great moment, something that the 24-year-old could only dream about when he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves out of Ocala (Florida) High School in the 13th round in 2019.

But there he was, with his family on the field at Angels Stadium before the game Thursday. And in the ninth inning, after he’d been up warming earlier in the game, he made his big-league debut, collecting the final three outs of the Tigers’ 10-4 win.

“I felt the nerves when I got up the first time, but that kind of got rid of all the nerves,” he said. “I knew what to expect. I wasn’t necessarily nervous, just excited.”

He didn’t pitch nervous, that’s for sure. He was moving 96 and 97 mph four-seamers in and out to right-handed hitters Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud, getting both to ground out to the left side of the infield.

Lefty pinch-hitter Gustavo Campero smudged his outing with a single after Owens fell behind 3-0. But Owens quickly dispatched Kyren Paris on a lineout to center and accepted congratulations from catcher Dillon Dingler before enjoy his first victory handshake line.

“He was calm and collected,” Dingler said. “He was great. I hadn’t seen him since spring so I was trying to feel it out a little bit, but he was in the zone. He did a great job.

“He gave up the hit, but he was filling it up, throwing his best stuff and he’s really good.”

He followed it up with a clean ninth inning in Friday’s 9-1 win, recording his first career big-league strikeout. Owens finished last season at Double-A Erie after the Tigers acquired him at the trade deadline from Texas for Carson Kelly. The Tigers liked his power fastball and slider-splitter mix enough to put him on the 40-man roster.

He opened eyes very early this spring, blowing upper-90s heaters past hitters first in live BPs.

Javier Báez, noting the beard and hair, told reporters, “He looks like Jesus. I thought he (threw) 93 and he’s 98.

Owens was impressive in his exhibition outings, too. He pitched in five Grapefruit League games and allowed just two hits in 4.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and no walks.

“He’s a good-looking prospect pitcher and this is the next challenge for him,” manager AJ Hinch said. “When we acquired him, I heard a lot about his aggressiveness. I heard a lot about his pitches, his mix and his high-end velo.”

What he and pitching coach Chris Fetter didn’t know until they saw him pitch in games was his attack-dog mentality on the mound.