The 0–2 pitch from Anibal Sanchez to Yan Gomes seemed to float towards home plate before finally giving in to gravity and diving towards the dirt, low and outside, shy of the plate. It registered as a 64.1 mph curveball on Gameday. As research on Statcast showed, it was the slowest non-eephus, non-knuckleball pitch from a Tigers hurler since Randy Wolf threw a 64 mph curveball on Aug. 22, 2015.

What Sanchez threw Saturday wasn’t a curveball, he said. He has a slow curve he’ll throw in the low 70s, but not that slow.

“That’s his butterfly changeup,” catcher James McCann said.

Butterfly changeup?

“You’ll have to ask him,” McCann politely replied.

Sanchez uses the Spanish term.

“I call it La Mariposa,” Sanchez said with a smile.

It got that name because of the way it flutters when he would throw it with the Marlins.

“When you play catch, just playing around, I would throw that ball,” Sanchez said. “It’s more like a knuckleball. One of my teammates called it the Butterfly. I remember I threw it my first time in 2012 here in Detroit.”

He would throw it on occasion over the years, an occasional super-soft twist off of what was then an arsenal of hard stuff he threw. He had an assortment of pitches around the same velocity, in the low to mid 90s. When he was on, he could throw them with such similar mechanics and velocity that hitters wouldn’t know what was coming until the pitch would break towards the plate.

Those days are gone now. This is a different version of Sanchez, one that’s fighting for his job as a Major League starter. Instead of throwing a bunch of different pitches around the same velocity, he’s surviving at throwing at a range of speeds. In a league of hard throwers, he’s giving a different look.

On Saturday, Sanchez threw pitches everywhere from 64 to 93 mph. He had breaking balls ranging from 70 to 81 mph. According to Statcast, he threw more pitches at 74 mph or slower Saturday (seven) than he had this season (six). He drew four swing-and-misses from an aggressive Indians lineup.

“Especially those guys, they are really good,” Sanchez said, “and I want to put more separation from my fastball.”

The butterfly changeup is arguably a changeup from his offspeed pitches. The spin rate on his offspeed pitches Saturday ranged from 2213 to 1314 rpm.

“It looks like a curveball sometimes, sometimes like a cutter,” Sanchez said. “I don’t what they do when I throw them.”

That sounds like a knuckleball, but it’s a little different. Regardless of the terminology, it’s the mentality that’s key for Sanchez right now.

“The big thing for me is he’s executing pitches,” McCann said. “He established in early today, and he used all of his offspeed to both sides of the plate. He had a lot of success. …

“Anytime a guy is locating his fastball, especially inner half of the plate — whether that’s 88 mph or 98 mph — and then they have a pitch that they’re locating that’s a 20 mph difference, it’s going to make that fastball play up. I mean, you saw numerous guys today that got beat by his fastball, and you look up there and it’s 90, 91, 92, touching 93. And you’re thinking, ‘Man, how is he getting that?’ You have to respect his offspeed stuff. And the fact that he’s throwing multiple offspeed pitches for strikes forces guys to respect more than just one pitch and not be able to just ambush a heater.”

It’s not glamorous, but it’s not about that. For Sanchez, it’s about survival.

“When I went to Toledo, I was learning how you feel when you want to make the big leagues again,” Sanchez said. “It’s like when I was in the minor leagues before and I wanted to make the big leagues, that feel. It makes you hungry to play, hungry to be able to get this guy out, hungry to be good. I found that down there. That came back.”

He didn’t want to say he thought he was done, but he knew he was tested.

“Thank God that I’ve gotten this opportunity again,” he said. “I’m so grateful for where I am right now, and I’m just going to continue working. I need to continue working, and I know I’ve got a long season.”