DETROIT >> Entering play Sunday, the Tigers were the only team in baseball to boast four starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.00. They were also one of the few to not have a pitcher make a single start on the traditional four days of rest.

Cause and effect? Probably not. But the extra rest between starts has not been accidental.

“The goal is to routinely give guys extra rest this season,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “And that’s been on purpose. It’s been designed and it’s been somewhat of a gift from the schedule with the off days early in the year.”

It’s why Keider Montero was called up last week to enlarge the rotation to six. It’s why Montero will get a second start Monday against the Padres.

“One of the things I said when Keider got here was we wanted to give the rotation an extra day,” Hinch said. “When we decided to push to get him a second appearance, we had the opportunity to insert him whenever we wanted to.”

They chose to insert him Monday, a decision at least partially impacted by Casey Mize’s strong seven-inning win Saturday. If the bullpen, already taxed and an arm short, had to pick up multiple innings Saturday, Hinch could have kept Jack Flaherty in place on Monday — figuring with Tarik Skubal (Sunday) and Flaherty going back-to-back, the bullpen could get back on track.

“We are going to continue to do this,” Hinch said. “Just being aware of our whole rotation and being proactive on that as opposed to waiting and being reactive. This has evolved into being the best plan to gain the most in terms of rest and recovery.”

It’s not an exact science, of course, but there is some correlation between the extra rest and performance gains.

“Opinions on that vary,” Hinch said. “The information that comes with that can vary pitcher to pitcher.

But generally speaking, recovery is the hardest thing to gauge. We’re a sport that thrives on routine. And the everyday component and the history of the game will tell us that these guys like to pitch routinely every five days.

“The rest and recovery information will tell you that stuff is just a little bit better when you get more rest.”

The data gets a little fuzzy, though, when the extra day of rest turns into two and three days of extra rest. Then it becomes a rust vs. rest argument.

“The best laid plans will get messed up by Mother Nature or odd games or uncontrollable circumstances,” Hinch said. “We targeted this part of the schedule because this is the longest stretch of games in the month of April (23 games in 24 days).

“You need to be adaptable and balance the proactive approach with the fatigue and soreness that come with the rigors of the season, and inevitably it comes at a different time for each pitcher. So it may not be the blanket, ‘everybody gets an extra day of rest’ when we chose to do it again.”

Welcome Bailey Horn

There’s been somewhat of a disconnect with Tigers’ newest reliever, lefty Bailey Horn, between the quality of his stuff and the results.

And neither Hinch nor Horn hesitated when asked for the cause of this disconnect.

“Strike zone,” Hinch said.

“Get in the zone,” Horn said. “Attack the hitters starting with strike one and stay on top of them. Compete in the zone and don’t nibble.”

The 27-year-old, who debuted with the Red Sox last season, has a power arm (95 mph with his fastball) and an 82-mph sweeper. And when he’s working ahead in the count he can be menacing.

Too often, though, he has not been in the zone. He had an 11.4% walk rated in 18 innings with the Red Sox last season and he walked eight in 8.1 innings at Triple-A Toledo this year. He also posted 11 strikeouts.

“If you look across his stuff, there is a lot to like,” Hinch said. “The power, the ability to manipulate the ball and get it to move — there’s a lot he can offer.

The difference between Triple-A and the big leagues for him is the strike zone. He’s got to be a reliable strikethrower and keep his outings condensed to impact the competition.

“The execution is going to be game-changer if we can get him in the zone.”

The Tigers liked his stuff enough to acquire him twice. They claimed him off waivers last November, released him in January, and re-acquired him for cash from St. Louis on March 13.

He was asked if the command issues were a function of trust or mechanics.

“Maybe a mixture of both at times,” he said. “It’s execution. Just executing pitches in the zone.”

Old friend alert

Look who was batting cleanup for the Royals Sunday.

Mark Canha, who was among the Tigers’ roster purge at the trade deadline last season, was activated off the injured list by the Royals, completing what has been an odd stretch for him.

A free agent this winter, he sat waiting until Feb. 24 when the Brewers signed him to a minor-league contract.

Then on March 22, he was traded to Kansas City.

“Yeah, the wait was a lot longer than I expected,” he said. “But I knew it would work out in the end and it did. And here I am. Happy camper.”

Canha got off to a hot start with the Royals, going 5 for 14 with a pair of doubles. But he went on the injured list on April 9 with an abductor strain.

Like most, Canha was locked in to the Tigers’ run at the end of last season.

“That was an incredible run,” he said. “Hats off to them. I was pulling for them. I was texting the guys in the playoffs, like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ Sending them encouraging texts. It was fun to watch.”

Canha, in his return to the lineup, got the pleasure of facing reigning Cy Young winning Tarik Skubal. Back on Aug. 31, 2021, when Canha was playing for Oakland, he homered and doubled off Skubal at Comerica Park.

The legitimacy of the homer has been a topic of banter between the two, since the right-handed hitting Canha snuck his home run inside the right-field foul pole.