With very few exceptions, pitchers have only limited ability to prevent balls in play from becoming hits — that’s mostly the job of the defense behind them. As a team, the Tigers have surrendered hits on 27.1 percent of balls in play against them. With the bases empty, Cornejo has yielded hits at a rate of 27.1 percent, exactly matching the team average. But with runners on, Cornejo’s hit rate allowed has dropped to an unfathomably low 17.0 percent. There’s no modern pitcher who has sustained a rate anywhere near that low, and there’s no ability that can account for that degree of difference. Cornejo has simply been lucky.