Detroit — Victor Reyes did a lot of running Thursday.
The Tigers outfielder legged out a fielder’s choice ground ball, preventing a double-play, in the third inning and scored from first on a double by Robbie Grossman. Later, in the eighth, he hit his own double. He also raced back to the track in center to haul in a drive by Yankees catcher Jose Trevino that would have scored two runs.
And he didn’t look comfortable during any of it.
“That was the final decision-making game for us, but he’s been battling this for a little bit,” said manager AJ Hinch after the Tigers placed Reyes on the 10-day injured list with a left quad strain Friday and before the series opener was postponed due to inclement weather, keeping Miguel Cabrera’s hit total at 2,999 heading into the weekend.
Friday’s game will be made up as the second game of a split doubleheader Saturday at 6:40 p.m. The originally scheduled game on Saturday will start at 1:10 p.m.
“He hasn’t quite looked like himself. He tried to play through it, but he just didn’t look right running. We can’t afford to let this linger too long.
“And we have a capable guy in Derek Hill who can come up.”
Hill, whose start to the season was delayed by a hamstring strain, was preparing to play in a game in Toledo when manager Lloyd McClendon told him to pack up and head to Detroit. He got to the clubhouse just before 4 p.m.
“I feel bad for Victor,” Hinch said. “He’s playing well and he does a lot of things for us. But watching him leg out that double-play ball and then score from first, he didn’t look great.”
Reyes said he’s been playing through the quad soreness since Opening Day.
“It’s not a very bad injury,” he said, through Tigers bilingual interpreter Carlos Guillen. “I can play, but I’m not 100 percent. Yesterday when I ran from first to home plate, that’s when I felt it getting worse, way bad.
“Obviously I am disappointed but I know this is for my own good. Nobody wants to go on the IL, but it’s a good decision to make sure it doesn’t get worse.”
Hill likely would have been the Opening Day center fielder after Riley Greene broke his foot late in camp. But his hamstring injury lingered and he also had to start the year on the IL.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Hill said. “Injuries are a part of playing baseball. You’re going to get hurt every now and then if you play hard. I’ve just accepted the fact that I’m going to go down (get injured) and I’m going to give everything I can until I do.”
One side bonus of the call-up for Hill, he gets a dugout seat for Miguel Cabrera’s quest for 3,000 hits.
“I was excited, I’m not going to lie,” Hill said when asked what he thought of Yankees manager Aaron Boone walking Cabrera intentionally Thursday. “I was sitting there watching that last at-bat and I was like, ‘I really want him to get it off his chest, but I want to be there.’
“Things worked out. It’s going to be a special moment for everybody.”
Welcome back
C.J. Cron‘s last memory of Comerica Park is a horrible one. Aug. 10, 2020. his knee blew out while making a play at first base. His season and brief 13-game Tigers career was over.
“It’s cool coming back,” said Cron, who is off to a hot start with the Rockies, leading the National League with six home runs and 16 RBIs. “I’ve played a lot of games here, especially being with the Twins.”
No team offered Cron a big-league contract after he had his knee surgically repaired. He ended up taking a minor-league, make-good deal with the Rockies before 2021. He made good, slashing .281/.375/.530 with 26 homers and 92 RBIs last year
“I just kind of rolled with the punches,” he said. “I only played 13 games with the Tigers’ organization – not quite enough it seems like these days. I was just looking for an opportunity to play. I knew I could still hit and I wanted to go to a place that would give me the at-bats. Fortunately enough, Colorado gave me the minor-league deal and I was able to prove that I belonged.
“The rest is history.”
Like Hill, Cron was watching and applauding Boone for walking Cabrera Thursday.
“Yeah, I wasn’t mad at it,” he said. “I’m a fan, just like everybody else. I want to see history, especially being his teammate for that short time…I’m real excited about it. He’s one of the best to ever do it. To be able to witness the moment will be special.”
MLB debut time
When Tigers pitching prospect Beau Brieske takes the mound Saturday, he will be the latest pick from the 2019 draft to make his big-league debut, by a lot.
Brieske was the 802nd pick, round 27, in 2019. Not a new phenomenon for him. He was unrecruited out of high school and ended up playing JUCO and Division II baseball. But he just kept pitching, kept getting stronger and better and after sitting out the COVID year in 2020, he was the Tigers’ minor league pitcher of the year last season.
“I think he’s strike-throwing is very appealing,” Hinch said. “His mix of pitches is very good. His confidence in his change-up is good. And quite honestly, we know we’re going to need 10 or 12 starters throughout a year to get through 162 games.
“So when this spot came open and we knew it could be brief, it was a fairly easy decision to give him an opportunity.”
Brieske will be starting in place of right-hander Matt Manning, who is on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. There is a chance Manning could throw a bullpen session Saturday or Sunday, so this will likely be one-and-done for Brieske, for now.
“His mentality impressed us in the spring and his confidence never wavered,” Hinch said. “The only thing he hasn’t done yet is pitch in the big leagues. We’re about to answer that question.”
Around the horn
…Left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin (left groin strain) is expected to make a rehab appearance Sunday in Toledo and Hinch intimated that he could be with the Tigers when they leave for Minnesota Monday.
“Toledo goes on the road (Monday) and we go on the road,” Hinch said. “We haven’t decided whether he will have one outing or multiple outings but everything looks fine. He told Doug (Teter, head athletic trainer) that his arm feels like it normally does when he leaves spring training.”
… Shortstop Javy Báez (right thumb soreness) went through a battery of general fitness and baseball activities Friday and could be activated as early as Saturday.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
Rockies at Tigers
When: 1:10 p.m. and 6:40 p.m., Saturday, Comerica Park
TV/radio: BSD/97.1.
SCOUTING REPORT
GAME 1
RHP Antonio Senzatela (1-0, 2.16), Rockies: Signed to a five-year, $50.5 million deal after last season, he’s on a slow-ramp into the season. He’s only pitched eight innings so far. But when he’s right, he’s a ground ball-inducing machine with his heavy 94-mph four-seamer and slider mix. Thirty-five of the 38 hitters he’s faced have put the ball in play against him this year.
Skubal (0-1, 3.72), Tigers: He’s coming off a dynamic performance in Kansas City. Throwing a wicked slider 35 times off four-seam and two-seam fastballs that were hitting 97 mph, Skubal retired the first 11 batters and allowed just one unearned run in 5.2 inning with seven strikeouts.
GAME 2
LHP Austin Gomber (0-1, 7.00), Rockies: Tigers will need to make him throw it in the strike zone. He’s walked six in nine innings of work over two starts so far this season. He throws a nasty slider (35% whiff rate) off a 90-91 mph four-seam. Over his career, right-handed and left-handed hitters each are hitting .246 against him. No split advantage.
RHP Beau Brieske (0-0), Tigers: Unrecruited out of high school, taken with the 802nd pick in the 2019 draft, unable to play because of the COVID shutdown in 2020 – yet here he is, with just one full minor league season under his belt, making his big-league debut. He features a dynamic mid-90s four-seam and change-up, with improving slider and curveball.
–Chris McCosky