DETROIT >> It was one of those plays you don’t think much about in real time.

The Tigers were already beating the Athletics, 5-0, in the eighth inning Thursday when Zach McKinstry ripped a ball into the right-field corner. Two runs scored and McKinstry could’ve easily checked up at second base, had the bone-saw celebration with the dugout and enjoyed his third hit of the game.

But McKinstry isn’t wired that way. Nor are most of the Tigers’ baserunners. The relay from right field went home and McKinstry never slowed down and cruised into third with his eighth triple this season.

Let Spencer Torkelson tell you why that mattered.

“George Lombard (Tigers’ bench coach who supervises the running game) does a great job of preaching, run the bases for your teammates,” Torkelson said. “Z-Mac is the definition of that. He gets to third base there and Rog gets a sacrifice fly.”

McKinstry hustled home on a line drive sacrifice fly by Jake Rogers.

“If Zach pulls up at second, everyone is happy he hit a double,” Torkelson said. “But for Rog, that at-bat is an 0-for-1. Zach got his teammate an RBI, and he’s done that all year. The way he runs the bases is our identity.”

This is on a night, mind you, where McKinstry was thrown out on the bases twice. He hesitated on a double steal in the fourth and got caught in a rundown. Still, he stayed in the rundown long enough for Javier Báez to get to second base.

In the sixth inning he stole second and then tried to score on a ground ball to shortstop when the throw to first was errant. That was a misread, but nobody faulted his aggressiveness.

On the season, McKinstry has a 71% success rate at taking extra bases, per Statcast, among the best in baseball. Which validates Torkelson’s point: The way McKinstry runs the bases is the Tigers’ identity.

“You run the bases for your teammates, 100%,” McKinstry said. “There is no ifs, ands or buts about it. When those guys see you going hard out of the box and hard around the bases like that, I think it brings everybody up and fires up the dugout.

“Wenceel (Perez) did the same thing for me (stretching a double into a triple on Wednesday), but I couldn’t get him in.”

The Tigers lead baseball with a 55% success rate on taking extra bases. In the three games against the Athletics, they were successful five times out of seven chances.

They have successfully gone first to third on a single an MLB-most 63 times.

“We’ve said all along that we don’t have to be the fastest team to be the best base-running team,” manager AJ Hinch said.

The topic came up recently because of the contrast between the Tigers’ aggressiveness in taking extra bases and their seemingly cautious approach to base stealing.

“Baserunning and base stealing are two separate skills,” Hinch said. “We probably could go more than we do. That’s more of a philosophical thing. We get 27 outs and I certainly don’t want to run into them for the sake of running.”

Some of it, too, he said, is situational.

“You could have a fast guy on first base who could really steal a base,” he said. “But we also have a gigantic hole in the four-hole (between first and second base). Do I want that open or closed? If I can guarantee I’m going to get second base, of course I would steal the base.

“But there are advantages to staying put.”

For now, the Tigers have separated baserunning and base stealing. But, as Hinch said and as the team continues to show almost on a nightly basis, that doesn’t preclude them from impacting the game on the bases.

“It’s a big part of what we do,” McKinstry said.

Torkelson unflappable

Torkelson’s solo home run in the second inning was his team-high 17th and it broke a 44-plate appearance homer drought. He was 4 for 37 during that stretch.

But this was unlike the droughts he’d gone through in past years. Only the homer total told the tale. The quality of his at-bats stayed solid throughout.

“When he’s gone through these dry spells in the past, a lot of times it’s about picking the right pitches,” Hinch said. “He’s actually done a pretty good job of staying in the zone, shrinking his zone. He just wasn’t getting a lot of love for it.

“For him to get that reward and change the scoreboard and give us a lead at home in a series-deciding game — it’s all important.”

Torkelson (50 RBIs) and Riley Greene (61) are the first Tigers’ duo to post 50-plus RBIs by June 27 since Miguel Cabrera (64) and Victor Martinez (52) did it 11 years ago.

And not for nothing, 11 of Torkelson’s 17 homers have come with two strikes. That’s the most in baseball.

The point being, it’s kind of silly to spend much time talking about a 44-plate appearance homer drought.

“We relied on him so much in the early part of the season,” Hinch said. “And it felt like he came through every single time. He doesn’t need to be perfect or get back to anything.

“He just needs to keep getting good pitches to hit.”

Around the horn

Infielder-outfielder Matt Vierling (shoulder) is expected to play at least a couple more games on his rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo. He played third base on Thursday and was off Friday. Hinch said he is expected to start in the outfield on Saturday and have at least another start on the infield before any decision on his return is made.

… It wasn’t lost on McKinstry he placed a close third to Alex Bregman in the last All-Star balloting for third basemen. “Super cool,” he said.

“To all the people who voted for me, thanks. My wife was really trying to push it and a lot of my friends, too, and my agency. It was really cool to see all the fans show out and try to rally behind me.”