Detroit — It was a day on for Harold Castro more than it was anything else. Castro has been the hottest hitter on the club.
“Yeah, Harold was a hero when we didn’t get no-hit by (Guardians starter Triston) McKenzie last year,” said manager AJ Hinch, referencing Castro’s single with two outs in the eighth inning last Aug. 15 to break up the perfect game. “He’s going to get him today, too.”
Still, that Hinch started Castro at third base speaks to some genuine concern over the continuing struggles of Jeimer Candelario.
“Jeimer has had a really rough go of it,” Hinch said. “There’s been glimpses of the same hitter we had last year. He’s got it in him. We have a ton of belief in him. He’s just caught so much in between from a bat speed standpoint, from an exit velocity standpoint and actual production, I think it’s impacted his whole game.”
It would have been Candelario’s third day off in 14 days for Candelario. Instead, he was thrust into the game as the designated hitter in the third inning, replacing Robbie Grossman, who left after one at-bat.
And wouldn’t you know it, Candelario lined a curve ball from McKenzie into the seats in right field in the sixth inning, putting the Tigers up 2-0.
It was a sorely needed swat for Candelario who came in with just two hits in his last 22 plate appearances with nine strikeouts. On the season, his average is down to .188 with a .247 on-base percentage and .318 slugging.
Every time it looks like he’s coming out of it, he stumbles back into a stretch of indecisive swings, chases and weak contact. His 35.6% chase rate is the worst of his career and his 87.6 mph average exit velocity on balls in play is the lowest since 2018.
“I know how tough it is to struggle,” Hinch said. “Especially when you are consistently hitting in the middle of the order. I’m not sure a day off helps. Today was more about Harold and continuing to give the hot bat a chance.
“But our best team has Jeimer doing more productive things on the field.”
Castro came into the game hitting .325, slugging a career-best .519 with an OPS-plus of 151. Over the last seven games he was 10 for 23 with a double, triple and three home runs. Hard to justify taking that bat out of a lineup that’s averaging just over two runs a game.
Alexander on mend
Lefty Tyler Alexander, out since April 30 with an elbow sprain, was in good spirits before the game Sunday. He is scheduled to pitch three innings for Toledo on Monday and then four innings five days later.
Hinch said they will make a determination after the second rehab outing, but the hope is he would be ready to rejoin the rotation.
“That’s the plan for now,” Hinch said. “After the four-inning mark we will make a decision. Our original plan was for him to come back and be a bulk reliever. That was before we went a couple more injuries deep into the rotation.
“The good news is, he’s feeling great and he’s optimistic his issues are in the past and he can start building off that.”
Alexander said he felt tightness in the back of his elbow and took a week off from throwing to allow inflammation to subside.
“We rehabbed it in Lakeland and built up slowly to the throwing program,” he said. “It feels good. My biggest issue was pronating out front. All the throwing I did in Florida with all the cameras in the world on it — I did it and it didn’t hurt.”
Alexander said once the MRI came back showing no structural damage, he knew he wouldn’t be out especially long.
“Yeah, as long as the structure is good and it’s not nerve damage,” he said. “There’s nothing you can really do about a nerve but give it time. Nerves suck.”
Right-hander Casey Mize, who has a similar injury, is still shut down. Hinch said Mize was on track to resume throwing next week.
Feeling better
Miguel Cabrera was held out of the lineup Sunday after he experienced tightness in his lower back in the sixth inning Saturday.
“He’s still sore,” Hinch said. “But he’s doing better than when he left last night. I was pretty concerned with how he was moving yesterday. We agreed we’d talk this morning and today he was in much better spirits and doing better.
“We’ve all had sore backs, especially lower backs. It’s hard to maneuver around. He’s not playing today but hopefully after another day of treatment he can be ready to go.”
Around the horn
When Alexander threw a live bullpen in Lakeland, the hitters were top prospects Riley Greene and Ryan Kreidler. His catcher was Jake Rogers. Greene and Kreidler are playing games with Toledo now. And Hinch said he expects Rogers, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, to return to action before the end of the season.
… Reliever Jose Cisnero, out all season with a shoulder injury, threw a 40-pitch bullpen last week. Hinch said he will be pitching in a game at Lakeland soon and then make a few more rehab appearances for Toledo.
… Lefty Joey Wentz is penciled in to start the second game of the doubleheader against the Twins on Tuesday. He would be called up from Toledo as the 27th man.
On deck: Twins
► Series: Five games at Comerica Park, Detroit
► First pitch: Monday — 1:10 p.m.; Tuesday (2) — 1:10 p.m., 7:10 p.m.; Wednesday — 7:10 p.m.; Thursday — 1:10 p.m.
► TV/radio: All games are on BSD/97.1 FM
► Probables: Monday — RHP Dylan Bundy (3-2, 4.54) vs. RHP Beau Brieske (0-4, 5.04); Tuesday — Game 1 TBA vs. RHP Rony Garcia (0-0, 3.00), Game 2 TBA vs. LHP Joey Wentz, tentative, (0-1, 20.25); Wednesday — RHP Bailey Ober (1-1, 3.25) vs. LHP Tarik Skubal (3-2, 2.44); Thursday — TBA vs. RHP Alex Faedo (1-2, 3.00).
► Bundy, Twins: He limited the Tigers to a run in 5.2 innings on May 25 at Target Field primarily with a mix of sliders and 91-92 mph four-seam fastballs and sinkers. He got 14 swings and misses and 11 called strikes. And a lot of soft contact — 16 balls in play, average exit velocity of 82 mph.
► Brieske, Tigers: He’s still searching for that elusive beer shower, which would commemorate his first big league win. He’s worked between starts at changing his pre-pitch set-up to better camouflage his pitches. He believes he’d been tipping his pitches by the way he grips the ball in his glove.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky