Houston — The relentless run of injuries continues to assault the Tigers.
Second baseman Gleyber Torres, who came back after missing most of May, is back on the shelf. He was placed on the injured list Wednesday with a left oblique strain, the same injury that kept him down in May.
“It’s a new injury in the same region,” manager AJ Hinch said. “It’s all related in there. But it’s frustrating for him and for us that that area continues to be an issue for him. I don’t know the extent of it in terms of a timeline or length.”
Torres tweaked the oblique on a swing Monday night. The Tigers waited an extra day to make the move to correspond with the return of Casey Mize, who returned to the rotation Wednesday.
Torres was devastated.
“Not fun at all,” he said. “Really sad, frustrating, just many feelings. I felt like I was playing really good and doing the right things for the team. Now back to the injury list. It sucks. I’m trying not to be emotional and be in the moment but it’s kind of hard.”
Torres revitalized the offense in the 11 games that he played this month, slashing .341/.413/.585 with a .998 OPS.
“I just have to get back on the (rehab) routine and try to get healthy again,” he said. “It’s so weird. I felt so good, especially that night. I felt everything was normal. Then the first swing I felt something weird in my oblique. It’s real frustrating that I can’t be with my guys, especially in this moment.”
Hinch admitted the steady stream of injuries and injury scares is getting tedious.
“The team knows and we feel it,” he said. “No doubt it’s a tiring broken record. But we can’t dwell on it because it’s not changing. The lineup we have is the group we’re going with now. We’d love to have everybody be at full strength and we’re not. The guys that are here need to step up.”
Colt Keith, who was held out of the game Tuesday with a sore wrist, was back in the lineup Wednesday. One bullet dodged.
Starting pitcher Troy Melton, who was scratched from his start Monday because of back stiffness, is progressing and expects to make his start Saturday. Possibly a second bullet dodged.
“He still has some boxes to check,” Hinch said. “We all do before we get to the next day (wry smile). Let’s get through the next 48 hours before we say for sure.”
As was the case the last time Torres went down, Hao-Yu Lee and Zach McKinstry will likely form a righty-lefty platoon at second base. That means Kevin McGonigle will play more at shortstop and Keith will get more starts at third base.
“We need to win the series today (Wednesday) and get home for a really important, long homestand,” Hinch said. “Our reality is what it is. We can’t pout about it or dwell on it. We’re happy to get Casey back, but at the same time it’s a challenge to lose a bat the caliber of Gleyber Torres.
“I’m at a loss to describe (all the injuries), but we can’t be lost trying to deal with it.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ Gleyber Torres devastated by latest IL stint: ‘Not fun at all’
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
