Detroit News

Minneapolis — The latest indication that Michael Fulmer’s role may have changed came Monday night when manager AJ Hinch summoned Wily Peralta to pitch the seventh inning after the Tigers had tied the Twins. Before Tuesday, Fulmer hadn’t pitched since last Wednesday in Tampa and that wasn’t a leverage situation. He hadn’t pitched in leverage since

Minneapolis — The Tigers had pushed across more than four runs in a game just twice this month and only six times all season. So to say the least, spotting the Minnesota Twins a four-spot right out of the gate was sub-optimal. But there they were Monday night, in a four-run hole five batters into

Minneapolis — There was a pleasant smell emanating from the back of the Tigers’ clubhouse before the game. Reliever Alex Lange was burning Palo Santo wood. “Relieves stress,” Lange said. “Everybody seems pretty relaxed in here, don’t they?” Apparently, Lange got the wood from rookie Beau Brieske. Palo Santo is native to South American regions,

Lakeland, Fla. — Anyone was free to wonder last July just what the Tigers allegedly were thinking. A big-league team was begging for bats at all levels. The Tigers instead decided a pitcher, a prep pitcher at that, was the third-best choice in the 2021 MLB Draft. They might have been onto something. Jackson Jobe stood on

Cleveland — Before the game, manager AJ Hinch, still fighting off an illness, his voice still weakened, would not accept any offering of sympathy — for him or his scuffling, injury-wracked baseball team. “We have to take all the bad mojo, the bad luck and bad vibes and get it out of the way and just try

So much spotlight this spring has been on other Tigers youngsters: Ryan Kreidler, Wilmer Flores, Colt Keith, Jackson Jobe. Then there’s Kerry Carpenter at Double-A Erie. He was only tied Saturday for the Eastern League lead in home runs, with 11. He was merely batting .322 with a 1.017 OPS. He swings left-handed and is

Cleveland — Maybe Javier Báez can take some inspiration from Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story. Story and Báez signed almost identical $140 million contracts this offseason and both struggled mightily out of the gates, drawing boos from the home crowds at Fenway Park and Comerica Park, respectively. Story was hitting .196 and slugging .286 after 29 games. Then

Detroit Country Day sophomore shortstop Tyler Inge doesn’t feel any pressure being the son of a former Major League Baseball All-Star, instead feeling blessed he had the opportunity to start his love for the game of baseball at an early age. Inge recalls taking swings with his little bat at Comerica Park and slamming pitches

Cleveland — The natural inclination for a professional athlete is to push through pain. Baseball players will tell you the only time they feel 100% healthy is on the first day of spring training. Stuff starts aching on day two and it doesn’t relent. So, for sure Eduardo Rodriguez wanted to keep pitching on Wednesday against

Cleveland – The rains hadn’t started yet, but they were undeniably coming. As a result, the Tigers game against the Guardians scheduled for Saturday night was postponed. It will be made up on July 14. The Tigers, as a result, will lose an off day and play a four-game series at Progressive Field leading into

Associated Press Arlington, Texas — Nolan Ryan was already striking out plenty of batters with his blazing fastball, and at age 22 pitched the last seven innings in the National League pennant-clinching game for the 1969 Miracle Mets and got what would be his only World Series ring. If not for the encouragement and insistence of

Cleveland — Then there were none. Tarik Skubal, the last uninjured member of the Tigers’ original starting rotation, limped off the field after pitching five scoreless innings in Detroit’s 6-1 loss to the Guardians of Cleveland Friday night at Progressive Field. He was drilled in the lower part of his left leg with a line

Lakeland, Florida — Riley Greene’s work Friday on TigerTown’s back lots probably reassured two parties: his bosses, as well as Tigers fans aching for a skilled rookie to reunite with manager AJ Hinch’s big-league lineup. But it was another guy who showed up Friday for an intra-squad game on Cobb Field, which is part of Tigertown’s

Cleveland — Injuries, illnesses. It just won’t relent for the Tigers. On Friday before starting a three-game set against the Guardians, the club announced that right-handed reliever Will Vest was being placed on the injured list. No injury was listed, which typically means a player is going into COVID-19 protocol. To replace him on the

Lakeland, Fla. — Al Avila, the Tigers’ general manager, was at TigerTown on Thursday sorting through options as he worked to patch a starting rotation that is 80% depleted. Correct. Four of manager AJ Hinch’s five starters are on the injured list. Tarik Skubal, please be careful. Casey Mize is gone because of an elbow sprain.

Detroit — There was at least a glimmer of hope that right-hander Matt Manning might be getting closer to rejoining the rotation, maybe even by next week. The jury is still out on that possibility now. Manning, recovering from shoulder inflammation, made his third rehab start for Triple-A Toledo Thursday and was pulled from the

St. Petersburg, Fla. — You wanted no part of that postgame Tigers clubhouse Wednesday at Tropicana Field. Somber. Angry. Fed up, all after a 6-1 loss to the Rays that saw starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez exit in the first inning. Begin with AJ Hinch, the Tigers manager who is rather weary of seeing four-fifths of his rotation

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Eduardo Rodriguez, with every pitch he threw during his pregame warm-up, started to get a bad feeling in his left side. Twenty-three pitches into his start Wednesday against the Rays, it was clear the discomfort was debilitating and he signaled to the dugout for manager AJ Hinch and head athletic trainer

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Francisco Mejia, the Tampa Bay Rays catcher, said what Isaac Paredes wouldn’t. Heck yes he enjoyed hitting a couple of long home runs against his former team. “All baseball players ever want to do is get back against the team that just gave them away,” Mejia said. Paredes, whom the Tigers traded

Associated Press A study examining diversity hiring practices finds Major League Baseball with rising gender scores but also a three-decade low for Black players on opening day rosters. Wednesday’s report card from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida issued an overall grade of B-minus, with a B for racial hiring and