CHICAGO — The Detroit Tigers acquired right-handed reliever Kyle Finnegan from the Washington Nationals at the July 31 trade deadline . After trading for him, the Tigers immediately tweaked Finnegan's pitch usage to unlock more swings and misses.

Since then, the ex-Nationals closer has thrown 4⅓ scoreless innings with six strikeouts in four games, converting all three save opportunities.

The secret?

More splitters, fewer fastballs.

"It's adapt or die in this game," said Finnegan, a free agent after this season. "I'm always constantly looking for ways to get better. I guess they identified some things. Maybe that's why they brought me over here. I'm embracing it, and I'm trusting it. There are a lot of really good minds over here." Expert MLB daily picks: Unique MLB betting ins

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