BALTIMORE — Trey Wingenter has returned to a familiar place: The injured list.
The Detroit Tigers placed Wingenter, a right-handed reliever, on the 15-day injured list Saturday, retroactive to April 19, with right shoulder tendinitis. He has pitched 4⅓ innings across six appearances this season.
“It’s definitely pretty disappointing to have to take a step back, but luckily, it’s minor,” Wingenter said this weekend from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. “We’ve run some tests, and everything feels pretty small. There’s some inflammation we got to flush out of there. I’ll be dialed into the quick rehab process and ready to get back out here as soon as possible.”
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Before Friday’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles, Hinch said Wingenter informed the Tigers his shoulder pain was becoming “a little more troublesome.” Elbow surgery and two back surgeries nixed his 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Before 2023, Wingenter hadn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2019 with the San Diego Padres.
“We just can’t have guys that aren’t available,” Hinch said. “You never know how these games are going to go. … We got him checked out. We have a pretty good diagnosis on him and prescribed the rest that he’s going to need that warranted the IL stint.”
The 29-year-old, when healthy and in control of his two-pitch mix, can be a dominant high-pressure reliever because of his powerful fastball and swing-and-miss slider. His fastball averaged 95.7 mph and his slider generated a 45.5% whiff rate before the shoulder injury.
He owns a poor 8.31 ERA with two walks and five strikeouts this season.
“It built up over a few days after a couple of my last outings,” Wingenter said. “I couldn’t get it to loosen up, so we decided it’s best to put the ball down for a few days, let it calm down and build back up. It should be a pretty quick turnaround.”
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Wingenter, in parts of three MLB seasons, has a 5.33 ERA with a 12.8% walk rate and 32.4% strikeout rate in 74⅓ innings. He pitched a career-high 51 innings in 2019 with the Padres.
“It’s frustrating because I want to contribute,” he said. “But I’ve been through this process in a way bigger scale. … I know I can handle this type of thing. I know how to take it one day at a time and be optimistic. It’s a long season. I’m going to knock this thing out and have a healthy season.”
Return of the Vest
The Tigers recalled right-handed reliever Will Vest from Triple-A Toledo to replace Wingenter. Vest, 27, landed in Baltimore about 30 minutes before Saturday’s game and pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
It was his best outing since the 2022 season.
“He was locked in like last year,” Hinch said. “He’s a strike-thrower and will attack. He was super aggressive with the fastball, slider and changeup. All three of them were pretty good. It was a good sign.”
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In 2022, Vest posted a 4.00 ERA with 22 walks and 63 strikeouts in 63 innings across 59 outings for the Tigers. He struggled in spring training — a product of his mechanics creating an inconsistent delivery — and started the season in Triple-A Toledo.
For the Mud Hens, Vest logged an 8.00 ERA with four walks and 12 strikeouts in nine innings across seven games. He surrendered three home runs in his first four outings before finding his groove.
“I was moving down the mound a little differently than I did,” Vest said. “My timing was a little messed up. Somewhere along the line, I lost getting out there and just competing. I was worried about how I was moving rather than just trying to get guys out. I’ve gotten back to that.”
The Tigers promoted Vest, only to demote him a few hours later, as the 27th player for Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians. He seemed like a candidate to pitch in Game 2 but wasn’t needed because starter Eduardo Rodriguez tossed eight scoreless innings.
Now, Vest has returned as a member of the 26-man roster.
In Saturday’s 5-1 loss, Vest recorded five swings and misses with two fastballs, one slider and two changeups. He also dropped in six called strikes. The three-pitch mix guided him to four strikeouts.
“I felt like myself again,” Vest said. “That was fun.”
Vest struck out Anthony Santander (swinging, 86.4 mph changeup), Ramón Urias (called strike, 94.9 mph fastball), Adam Frazier (swinging, 86.9 mph changeup) and Gunnar Henderson (called strike, 94.2 mph fastball).
He threw 17 of 25 pitches for strikes.
“I feel good for him,” Hinch said, “This has not been an easy month for him, getting news that he’s going down, getting off to a rough start in Triple-A and now coming up twice in the week. For him to come in and throw strikes and keep the game where it was, that was important.”
New leadoff hitter (for Sunday)
Nick Maton, who leads the Tigers with eight walks, spent six games in a row as the leadoff hitter. But the left-handed hitter wasn’t in the lineup for Sunday’s series finale against Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez.
Akil Baddoo, a fellow left-handed hitter, served as the leadoff hitter.
“Maton needed a day,” Hinch said pregame. “Just mentally, he’s been grinding. We’ve seen his at-bats get steadily more inconsistent, and that signals to me that he’s trying to do a little too much and trying to carry the workload of everybody, especially in games where we don’t perform offensively.”
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Maton, 26, hasn’t recorded a hit since his walk-off home run April 15 against the San Francisco Giants at Comerica Park. He is 0-for-20 with one walk and four strikeouts in his past five games.
He’s hitting .131 with three homers, eight walks and 18 strikeouts in 18 games. The Tigers acquired Maton from the Philadelphia Phillies in an offseason trade.
“Swinging outside of the zone a little bit, some in between indecisiveness,” Hinch said. “Everybody needs a day, physically and mentally, at some point. Today was good for Maton. He’ll be back in there tomorrow.”
Javy Báez scratched
The Tigers scratched Javier Báez from Sunday’s game with a swollen middle finger on his left hand. He injured his finger, bending it backward, while stealing second base in the first inning of Saturday’s loss.
The finger swelled up by Sunday morning.
“He was fine to finish the game and felt nothing,” Hinch said. “Today, he woke up and it was a little swollen and pretty sore. He came in, we talked about it and we needed to give him the day.”
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Báez could be available to pinch-hit Sunday, but should return to the starting lineup for Monday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers. The 30-year-old is hitting .203 with zero home runs, five walks and 15 strikeouts in 19 games this season.
He has a .500 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
Zach McKinstry shifted from third base to shortstop, replacing Báez, while Tyler Nevin entered the lineup as the third baseman. Matt Vierling took over for Báez as the No. 3 hitter in the batting order.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.