Miami – Talk about stepping up.

The Tigers’ bullpen was paper thin, having covered 11 innings the two previous nights. And Sunday was a scheduled bullpen game.

“We’ll be fine,” manager AJ Hinch said Saturday night.

BOX SCORE: Tigers 2, Marlins 0

His crystal ball must have reflected a clutch five-inning performance by Keider Montero.

The Tigers right-hander hadn’t thrown more than 79 pitches in a game since Aug. 23 and hadn’t thrown that many in the big leagues since July 25.

But a clean, five-pitch first inning set the tone for what was an impressive and important effort by Montero. He threw five shutout innings and helped the Tigers salvage the finale against the Marlins Sunday, 2-0, at loanDepot Park.

Spinning both his slider (up to 2,800 rpm) and knuckle-curve (up to 3,000-rpm)

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