Romine became the fifth player in Major League history to play all nine positions in one game and the first since the Tigers' Shane Halter accomplished the feat on Oct. 1, 2000.
Romine joins Bert Campaneris (Sept. 8, 1965), Cesar Tovar (Sept. 22, 1968), Scott Sheldon (Sept. 6, 2000) and former Tiger Shane Halter (Oct. 1, 2000) on the short list.
The drama reached its height in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Romine took the mound to face Minnesota Twins slugger Miguel Sano.
After bouncing a couple of pitches in front of the plate, Romine rared back and threw as hard as 88 mph, eventually getting Sano to ground out to third base on a 3-1 pitch.
Romine then moved to first base, completing his circuit of the diamond. He was recognized on the scoreboard and received a nice cheer from fans. When the inning ended, he got hugs and high-fives from his teammates.
Romine started the game in left field, where he made two of three outs in the first inning. He moved to center field in the second inning and right field in the third, switching spots with fellow outfielders Alex Presley and JaCoby Jones.
He moved to the infield in the fourth inning, trading places with third baseman Nicholas Castellanos, who moved to right field. Romine caught a foul pop up to retire the first out in his new spot.
Jeimer Candelario entered the game in the fifth to play third base, allowing Romine to move to short. He switched spots with Dixon Machado to move to second base in the sixth.
Things really got fun in the seventh, when Romine made his Major League debut as a catcher for reliever Blaine Hardy. Starting catcher Bryan Holaday moved to second base.
Hardy got the first out, then gave up a double to Ehire Adrianza (after JaCoby Jones almost made a diving catch) and an RBI single to Zack Granite.
Granite went to second on a passed ball by Romine; in fairness, he probably would have stolen it anyway.
After a walk to Joe Mauer, manager Brad Ausmus decided to make a mid-inning switch, bringing in designated hitter James McCann to catch and putting Romine back at second base.
The Tigers escaped the inning with a one-run lead, but then had to figure out how to get Romine on the mound late in such a close game.
Ausmus decided to be bold and bring in Romine to start the eighth against Sano.
Buck Farmer struggled through the first inning, but he settled in to make it through five innings while surrendering only a run.
The Tigers took the lead in a two-run fifth inning fueled by Candelario's RBI single.
Shane Greene pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
The San Francisco Giants lost earlier on Saturday to fall to 63-98, meaning the Tigers now are one game ahead of them in the race to be, or not to be, the worst team in baseball.
https://www.mlb.com/tigers/video/candelarios-rbi-single/c-1857498083?tid=8877502
Webvideo Highlights of the Tigers win over the twins.
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/tigers-...504#game_state=final,game_tab=box,game=492504
Boxscore.