Lakeland, Fla. — It felt like a sucker punch, but it didn’t knock him down.
Left-handed reliever Nick Ramirez, a converted first baseman, was not in big-league camp with the Tigers last year. Still, he was promoted from Triple-A Toledo on May 11 and wound up pitching 79.2 innings, more than any other reliever on the club.
He pitched 27 innings in his first 10 games, that’s how durable he was. He ended up going 5-4 with a 4.