Farmer set to make spot start Wednesday
PITTSBURGH -- The Tigers were being touted as World Series contenders for a rotation deep enough that Rick Porcello was their fifth starter. Less than two weeks later, they're looking to Robbie Ray and Buck Farmer for starts in crucial games in the thick of a playoff race.
Ray will start Tuesday's against the Pirates at PNC Park, followed by Farmer to open the Detroit portion of the home-and-home series Wednesday at Comerica Park.
For Ray, the move was expected. The return prospect in the Doug Fister trade was the next starter in line at Triple-A Toledo, and was pronounced as the fill-in for injured Anibal Sanchez when the Tigers announced Sunday morning he was headed to the disabled list.
Farmer, however, was a surprise, and not just for the name. He was a fifth-round Draft pick last year out of Georgia Tech and made 18 starts at Class A West Michigan before starting two games for Double-A Erie.
Combine the two levels, and the 23-year-old right-hander is 11-5 with a 2.65 ERA, allowing 101 hits over 115 2/3 innings with 28 walks and 127 strikeouts. But of course, he has done so against younger competition.
The success vaulted him into the eighth spot on MLB.com's list of top Tigers prospects . His ETA to the Majors, however, was listed at 2016.
His biggest advantage going into his Major League debut will be that so few teams have seen him that there'll be little from which to create a scouting report.
'He's pitched very well,' Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said. 'He's got good stuff. Ideally, you'd have more development time. I haven't seen him myself really, maybe one start. Our guys like him. Actually, that's why we moved him to Double-A, because we were concerned about if we need extra pitching down the road, at least to give him some exposure at the next level, and he's pitched very well there twice.'
Farmer is not on the 40-man roster, so the Tigers will have to open a spot. They'll also have to create a spot on the 25-man roster.
Bat boy injured in fall at Pirates-Tigers game
PITTSBURGH -- A bat boy injured his left knee in a fall on the field during the Tigers-Pirates game Monday night at PNC Park.
The bat boy was headed off the infield to the Tigers' dugout following Rajai Davis' two-run double in the top of the eighth inning when he slipped and fell backwards near the first-base coaching box. According to Tigers head athletic trainer Kevin Rand, his left knee gave out from under him.
Rand, Tigers assistant athletic trainer Doug Teter and first-base coach Omar Vizquel attended to him as he lay on the ground, seemingly shaken. Rand and Teter helped him off the field as the crowd, which had noticed the fall, quietly cheered.
The bat boy, later moving around on crutches, will be examined by Pirates team doctors on Tuesday, Rand said, and will undergo an MRI exam.
Whelan grateful for chance to pitch for Tigers
PITTSBURGH -- Kevin Whelan was once a fresh-faced kid out of Texas A&M with dreams of pitching in the big leagues for the Tigers. That, however, was a long time ago.
Much more recently, he was praying just to be able to pitch again.
'It was kind of to the point really this year where I didn't know if I was going to play again, and then got an opportunity with Detroit,' he said. 'And really, I just sat down and prayed about it with my wife and didn't worry about it, and said, 'If this is our last year, then let's go at it 100 percent.' And things have worked out so far.
When Whelan signed a Minor League contract with the Tigers in the offseason, it wasn't just a reunion. It was a last shot. With a 4.97 ERA at Triple-A Louisville last year, a dramatically lower strikeout rate, a high home-run rate and major surgery in his history, he had no other contract offers.
He didn't look like the pitcher who made it to the Yankees' bullpen for a brief stint in 2011 before undergoing surgery for a torn flexor tendon and bone chip around his right elbow the following year. He didn't feel pain, he said, but he didn't feel normal.
He felt his arm improving at the end of last season, but he needed someone to take a chance. Fortunately, he still had ties to Tigers officials who were in search of pitchers to fill their organizational depth.
'I reached out to [farm director] Dan Lunetta and just asked him for an opportunity,' he said.
It took a lot of circumstances, from injuries in the Detroit bullpen to struggles by relievers in Toledo, but Whelan got his shot and rolled. He has 20 saves for Triple-A Toledo, having allowed eight runs on 26 hits over 39 innings with 48 strikeouts.
His splitter is getting swings and misses as well as groundouts. His fastball has new life.
'The split is the pitch,' manager Brad Ausmus said. 'And really, his numbers speak for themselves.'
The final hurdle was a Tigers team in desperate need of fresh arms following a 19-inning marathon loss in Toronto. With that, Detroit purchased his contract and brought him up.
'It was a long road,' Whelan said. 'I'm just thankful for the opportunity and just very blessed.'
Dirks' injury not as serious as originally thought
PITTSBURGH -- A setback in rehab might not keep Tigers outfielder Andy Dirks out as long as previously feared.
'I would anticipate he'll be out playing sometime this week,' Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said. 'It's not a major hamstring problem. It's more of a grab and a little bit of a strain.'
Dirks, out since early March following surgery to repair a damaged disc in his back, has been stop-and-go on a rehab assignment since the start of July. His latest setback has nothing to do with the back, but a hamstring he tweaked playing the outfield last week, but it was enough of a concern that the Tigers pulled him back from his rehab assignment.
Because he was pulled back from rehab, he can restart his assignment in the coming days with the full 20 days allowed. That would take him past Sept. 1, when Major League rosters expand. Even if he isn't with the Tigers by the end of August, he can be eligible for postseason play, since he was on the disabled list.
'We're still hopeful,' Dombrowski said, 'but again, we haven't been successful in him getting back. But we're hopeful he can still come back. Now we're talking the first of September, really, when he's ready.'
Quick hits
* Dombrowski said Drew VerHagen's back injury, diagnosed as a stress fracture, will likely be a season-ending injury. VerHagen made a spot start for Detroit last month, then went on the seven-day disabled list at Triple-A Toledo. While VerHagen is expected to recover this year, he is not expected to have enough time to make any more starts before the minor-league season ends.
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