DETROIT >> Just seeing the stat on paper jumps out at you.

Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson are the first pair of Tigers teammates to accumulate at least 40 extra-base hits before the All-Star break. Greene went into the game Wednesday with 43 and Torkelson 41.

But think about it in the context of the Tigers’ rich history. The All-Star Game has been around since 1933. So that means Greene and Torkelson have done something Hank Greenberg and Charlie Gehringer never did, that Al Kaline and Norm Cash never did, that Willie Horton and Al Kaline never did.

No combination of Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish ever did it. Cecil Fielder and Mickey Tettleton never did it. Magglio Ordóñez and Pudge Rodriguez never did it.

Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder didn’t do it.

Remarkable, no?

“They’re both really good players,” manager AJ Hinch said. “I didn’t know they’d be etched in history that way. But I know the work that’s done in order to put up really good at-bats.”

There is a well-founded belief in baseball that to be a truly elite team, to win a World Series, you need dudes, you need aircraft carriers, you need one or two true impact players — like a Shohei Ohtani, like an Aaron Judge, like a Freddie Freeman, like a David Ortiz, on down the line.

“That’s definitely true,” Torkelson said. “Every great team that you see win a lot of games and win the World Series, it seems like they have more than just a couple of really good players. We have that on both sides of the ball.”

Certainly Greene and Torkelson are producing like aircraft carriers right now.

Before Wednesday, with the five games still to play before the break, Greene had 22 homers and 72 RBIs and Torkelson had 21 homers and 57 RBIs.

Only two other pair of Tigers have reached that level of production before the break: Cecil Fielder (23 homers, 77 RBIs) and Tettleton (24 homers, 73 RBIs) in 1993; Cash (24 homers, 70 RBIs) and Colavito (22 homers, 63 RBIs) in 1961.

But the concept of having aircraft carriers seems to run counter to the Tigers’ sum-of-its-parts philosophy.

“Both of them do carry our team,” Hinch said. “But they don’t have to do it at the same time and they don’t have to be the only ones.”

And maybe that’s the salient point. Two years ago, teams could pitch around Greene or Torkelson because the rest of the Tigers’ lineup wasn’t as deep. That hasn’t been the case this season.

“There are a lot of backbones to this team,” Torkelson said. “There’s been a presence in the lineup to where, like if you’re scouting us up and down the lineup, there’s not an easy out. It’s a tough lineup to navigate to where everyone gets to eat.

“Teams don’t get to focus on just one guy.”

That’s how Greene sees it, too. He doesn’t ever feel the burden of having to be the one guy to carry the team.

“There are incredible players in this clubhouse,” he said. “We’re a team. It’s a team game and I feel like it’s not always one guy doing it every night. It’s the whole team. It takes all nine of us. My goal is to find a way to contribute and help the team win every night.

“I’m not really caught up in like, I need to come up with a big homer here. I have eight other guys in this lineup that can do the same thing I can do. I don’t ever want to fail, but mentally it feels good knowing that if I get out, the guy behind me is going to get it done.”

The other variable that leads to historical feats like this, as Hinch said, is the ability — both from a health standpoint and performance standpoint — to post every day.

“Being an every day player, getting a rare day off, piling up a lot of at-bats, riding the peaks and valleys — all of that you have to endure to accomplish those results,” he said. “The deeper lineup does allow for those 10, 15, 20 at-bat dry spells, which is human. That’s going to happen to everybody.

“But their process has really strengthened their ability to post and my confidence to keep them in the lineup through those tough matchups from time to time.”

Neither Torkelson nor Greene were aware of the historic nature of the first-half productivity. But they liked the sound of it.

“We’re loving it,” Torkelson said. “But mostly because we’re helping the team win. That’s huge.”

Montero staying around

The initial thought was that Keider Montero would be optioned back to Triple-A Toledo after pitching six strong innings in the Tigers’ 5-1 win Monday. With the All-Star break looming and the rotation seemingly in place through Sunday, the Tigers could’ve brought up a fresh bullpen arm.

“Keider might be that arm,” Hinch said. “He could pitch out of the pen or he could start. With the way the rotation is going to play out, we’ll have a decision to make on Sunday.”

Jack Flaherty, who started on Tuesday, would be in line to start Sunday, the day before the break. Tarik Skubal is scheduled to start on Saturday and Casey Mize on Friday.

Hinch said Flaherty could still make that start with Montero possibly piggybacking. Montero only needed 68 pitches Monday, so he would be available to pitch out of the bullpen as early as Friday.

The Tigers won’t need a fifth starter until July 22 in Pittsburgh.

Lange shut down

The Tigers stopped the rehab assignment of right-handed reliever Alex Lange (lat repair) after he experienced tightness in the lat region after his outing Sunday.

“That’s not abnormal but it’s another caution flag to make sure we take this slowly as he recovers from a very tricky injury,” Hinch said. “He’s going to take a few days off and recover so we’re not risking anything.

“With the high volume (he pitched twice in three days) and the intensity he pitches with, these things happen and the best remedy is a slow pace.”

Lange hadn’t allowed a run in 4.2 innings, with six strikeouts, at Toledo.

“He’s still progressing, just slowly,” Hinch said. “There is going to be a delay now. We can’t mess with this. Soreness can turn into an injury quickly. This is not a setback. It’s a delay.”

Pitching depth

The Tigers signed 29-year-old lefty Devin Smeltzer to a minor league contract.

Smeltzer, the former Twin and Marlin, last pitched in the big leagues in 2023. He’s been used both as a starter and long reliever over the course of his 11 professional seasons.

He’s got a 9-5 record with a 4.32 ERA in parts of five big-league seasons and had been pitching this year in the Mexican League (unaffiliated). He was 4-4 in 13 starts with a 5.17 ERA, 60 strikeouts and 24 walks in 78 1/3 innings.

Around the horn

The Tigers released veteran outfielder Manuel Margot off the Toledo roster. Margot, the Tigers’ Opening Day right fielder, played in six games (6-for-19) before being designated for assignment and then re-signed to a minors deal. The 30-year-old scuffled in Triple-A (.211 batting average, .564 OPS).

… Outfielder Kerry Carpenter (right hamstring) is doing full baseball activities and has increased the intensity of his physical therapy.

“I don’t know the exact timeline, but it feels good,” he said. “I’ll be ready to go whenever they want to send me out. I feel great.”

Carpenter is eligible to come off the IL Thursday, but it’s likely he won’t return until after the break.