New York — Tigers lefty Matthew Boyd will likely miss his next start in Boston next week, but manager AJ Hinch is cautiously optimistic that he won’t have to miss any more.
“The first guy I saw this morning was Matt going to get coffee,” Hinch said before Friday’s game against the Yankees. “He was walking on the street. So that was a good sign.”
Boyd came out of the nightcap Thursday in the second inning with tendinitis in his left knee. He was scheduled to have more tests on it Friday.
“We will get those tests read and see what we need to do,” Hinch said. “I’m not a doctor, but initially, the feeling is positive. He’s going to miss a start, but he may or may not go all the way to that 10-day injured list.
“We haven’t really discussed it yet but this is better knowing he won’t miss multiple starts.”
More: ‘Really frustrating’: Three-run fifth spoils quality outing by Tigers’ Casey Mize
Unless Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter decide to rearrange the rotation with the day off Monday ahead of the three-game series in Boston, Boyd’s next turn would be Wednesday. With another off-day on May 10, Boyd would have 11 days to heal and miss only the one start.
Hinch could use Michael Fulmer to fill Boyd’s slot in Boston. Fulmer was summoned on Thursday when Boyd went out and pitched two innings, throwing 47 pitches.
But, obviously, that’s not been determined.
Reyes fighting it
Left field in Yankee Stadium is massive, from foul line to the gap (from 316 feet to 399 feet) it’s among the most spacious in baseball. But nobody talks about that because right field is a bandbox.
But it was in spacious Yankee Stadium that Hinch decided to give Harold Castro his first outfield start of the season.
“Right now we’re trying to develop Willi Castro at second base rather than bounce him back and forth between second and short,” Hinch said. “So that locks Harold out of second base. I put him in the outfield because he’s been putting up really good at-bats.”
The other side of that is Victor Reyes is scuffling. Over the last nine games, Reyes has gone 2-for-25 with seven strikeouts and no walks.
“He’s playing catch-up, trying to chase hits and he’s chasing bad pitches,” Hinch said. “That’s a bad combination.”
Reyes had a hard-luck homestand, hitting several balls hard right at defenders.
“When you have those (negative) numbers and they are a month old, you start to feel like every time you do something positive, you’ve got to have that result, as well,” Hinch said. “It gets hard to stick with the process when you are not getting results.
“Victor is an energy-provider for us, but I see him in that pressing category the last couple of weeks.”
Around the horn
The Tigers, after losing both ends of the weather-delayed doubleheader in Chicago Thursday, didn’t get to New York until 4:30 a.m.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
Tigers at Yankees
►First pitch: 1:05 p.m. Saturday, Yankee Stadium, New York
►TV/radio: BSDet-plus, MLBN/97.1
Scouting report
►RHP Spencer Turnbull (1-1, 3.27), Tigers: This will be his third start and he’s still in build-up mode after missing the last three weeks of spring training. But he’s been solid. Hitters are 7-for-42 in 11 innings and his slider has been nasty, getting a 47.6 whiff rate with it. He went 81 pitches last time out, so if he’s sharp, the restrictions could come off.
►RHP Jameson Taillon (0-2, 6.23), Yankees: He’s struggled early to establish his best weapon, the elevated fastball. Last year, when he was sitting 94-95 mph, opponents hit .219 against it. So far this year, the four-seam is sitting 93-94, opponents are hitting .303 off it with three home runs — that despite an exit velocity on fastballs put in play of a just 81 mph. The expected batting average against is .169. So he may be a victim of bad luck or some bad defense.