The Detroit Tigers have one pitcher returning and one pitcher headed to the injured list on Sunday, May 17.
Before the series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said right-handed reliever Will Vest will return from the 15-day injured list, where he has been since May 2 with right forearm inflammation.
To make room on the 26-man roster, the Tigers are placing right-handed starter Ty Madden on the injured list with a forearm contusion. Madden left Friday’s start after taking a line drive directly to his pitching arm on the mound.
Madden was placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to May 16.
“I’m very encouraged by getting [Will] back,” Hinch said. “It just stabilizes a lot of different things. I mean obviously, he’s been part of our planning on the front end and then our execution during the games. Him being back there as an option makes our entire bullpen deeper and better.”
Vest described his injury as a “pissed off” forearm that needed a little break. He added he was not too worried about the injury when it occurred because he could still throw hard and his pitches had their typical movement, so he was confident there were no structural issues.
“It just kind of got pissed off and I just needed to give it a little break and let it calm down a bit,” Vest said.
Vest made one rehab appearance, on Friday for Triple-A Toledo. He entered in the third inning, replacing fellow rehabbing pitcher Beau Brieske, and produced a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout, on a slider.
“If I feel like I have a good feel for my stuff and everything is normal, then I know if I’m pain-free then I’m ready to go,” Vest said.
Hinch said Madden has been progressing well and played catch on Sunday. But, the turnaround for a potential start on Wednesday was too quick for Madden, leading him to the injured list.
“The swelling is still not out of there,” Hinch said. “He can play catch, which is encouraging. We’ll keep doing that, but he can’t make a start of even the bulk role in that regard. So, that move, we gave ourselves as much time as we possibly could.”
The Tigers will get rehab work in Detroit for injured players such as Kerry Carpenter, Gleyber Torres, Javier Báez and Tarik Skubal over the next week because of the upcoming series against the Cleveland Guardians, beginning Monday.
“That flight between Detroit, DTW, and Tampa will have a few more passengers,” Hinch said.
Carpenter has gone through the early stages of his recovery in Detroit. The Tigers placed Carpenter on the 10-day IL on May 10 with a left shoulder sprain he suffered in a collision with the right field wall in Kansas City.
Carpenter said Sunday that adrenaline helped him stay in the game momentarily, but his shoulder grew stiffer and stiffer as time passed.
“After that, they did a test and I can barely pull up my arm,” Carpenter said. “So, it kind of progressively got worse.”
Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Will Vest, Tigers RHP, returns, but Ty Madden takes his place on IL
Reporting by Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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