Kerry Carpenter is on the injured with no discernible timetable. Spencer Torkelson and Alex Lange have been optioned to Toledo. Tuesday night, Jack Flaherty came out of the game after five scoreless innings with back tightness. On Wednesday, Alex Faedo was put on the injured list, experiencing inflammation in his right hip, the one he had surgically repaired in 2022. And, just two pitches into his start Wednesday, Kenta Maeda winced and grabbed at his right side. Catcher Jake Rogers noticed it immediately and signaled for trainer Ryne Eubanks and manager AJ Hinch to come out. Maeda threw a couple of practice pitches and went behind the mound, seemingly intent on staying in.
But after talking to Eubanks, Hinch reached for the ball. Maeda clearly wanted to stay in but Hinch wasn’t relenting. The Tigers’ initial diagnosis was right side abdominal discomfort. No further information was given during the game. Things steadily unraveled from that point on and an already taxed and short-handed bullpen had to eat all nine innings.
Lefty Joey Wentz, pressed into emergency duty, struggled to throw strikes. He walked the bases loaded in the first inning and fell behind rookie Wyatt Langford 3-1 before ultimately striking him out to end the inning. But he needed 31 pitches to get through it. By the time Hinch took the ball from him, Wentz had lasted 2 2/3 innings, thrown 64 pitches, 33 balls and 31 strikes, walked four and gave up three runs, including a left-on-left homer to Josh Smith, who finished a triple shy of a cycle. Mason Englert was next. He was optioned Tuesday to make room for Shelby Miller’s return. Fortunately, he is from nearby Forney, Texas, and got permission to stay with his parents Tuesday night and could be easily recalled.
