KANSAS CITY, MO – The Detroit Tigers have juggled their rotation to give Keider Montero more time to recover.
Montero was supposed to throw a bullpen session on Friday, Aug. 21, in Kansas City to get ready for a Monday start against the Tampa Bay Rays in Comerica Park. But the Tigers decided to give him some extra rest to recover.
“We're paying attention to the recovery coming out of his last outing,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Friday.
In his most recent start, the right-hander went five innings against Pittsburgh, giving up three earned runs, with three strikeouts and a walk.
“We'll look at Keider in the Dodgers series (Aug. 28-30),” Hinch said. “So we're going to just give him a little bit of a blow, which is not uncommon this time of year, especially with these off days. We're trying to be smart with pushing these guys when we need to push them but also pull back when we need to pull back. And coming out of last outing, we're just going to try to be smart with Keider.”
Right-hander Drew Anderson will pitch on Saturday against the Royals and the Tigers will now use a bullpen game on Sunday.
That means left-hander Framber Valdez will start Monday.
Hinch could have started Valdez on Sunday and then used a bullpen game on Monday in the first game of a series against the Rays. But, he said, he doesn't want to show the Rays his entire bullpen to start a series.
“We'll have an update on who's going to start that game as we get through the bullpen usage these next two games,” Hinch said before the Tigers played the first game against the Kansas City Royals.
Jackson Jobe and Troy Melton will not be impacted.
Jobe is expected to start Tuesday against the Rays and Melton will pitch against the Dodgers.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Keider Montero getting extra days of rest from Detroit Tigers
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