Detroit Tigers' Wily Peralta to injured list; Jose Urena, Matthew Boyd nearing returns

TORONTO — Detroit Tigers right-hander Wily Peralta tossed six innings of two-run ball in Saturday's 3-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Just before Sunday's series finale, the veteran reported a right finger blister and landed on the injured list.

Once his 10-day IL stint is complete, the Tigers plan to activate him. To occupy his roster spot until then, though, righty reliever Alex Lange was called up from the taxi squad.

But the Tigers are getting two starting pitchers back soon: left-hander Matthew Boyd and righty Jose Urena. Boyd has been out since June 15 with left arm discomfort; Urena has been sidelined since July 17 with a right groin strain.

"Urena's next three innings, as we're building him up to at least 50 pitches or more, is that better served in Triple-A or is it better served here?" Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. "Matt Boyd is going to pitch Tuesday. He'll be up past 60 pitches at that point."

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Urena tossed two scoreless innings Saturday for Toledo, throwing 30 pitches, in what should be his final rehab start. Boyd will start Tuesday for the Mud Hens, and that should be his final outing before getting back to the big leagues.

Those scenarios mean the Tigers will soon have too many starting pitchers: Boyd, Urena, Peralta, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning and Tyler Alexander. Three of those pitchers — Mize, Skubal and Manning — require extra rest days to keep their young arms healthy throughout their first full seasons.

Boyd gives the Tigers the look of a six-man rotation, which will help with innings restrictions to Mize, Skubal and Manning throughout September. With a 6.19 ERA over 17 starts this season, Urena could enter a hybrid role, serving as a starter and a piggyback reliever.

"He might start the first game and go three or four innings as we build him up," Hinch said. "There just may be a different schedule for these guys as we start to navigate the off days and some of the pitching restrictions we'll have in September for our young guys."

Early Sunday morning, Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter chatted about how they plan to use Urena, but they haven't come to a final decision.

"He may start," Hinch said. "I could also seeing him being very effective as a bulk reliever for a game that we may shorten Skubal in September or shorten Alexander in September and how they would play off one another. All those are in pencil until we get to the next series.

"We have a 13-game stretch coming up after this off day on Thursday, and that's what we're focused on in trying to map that out the best we can with some National League games in there."

Other injury updates

• Catcher Eric Haase (right abdominal strain) participated in full activities Saturday. The Tigers plan to get him ready for games in Toledo by Tuesday, when he will catch what should be Boyd's final rehab start. He will need another game or two in the minors but should return to the Tigers over the weekend when the Blue Jays travel to Detroit for a three-game series.

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• Utility player Niko Goodrum (left groin strain) could begin a rehab assignment for Low-A Lakeland soon after making progress with his running. His next step would then be "a few games" for Toledo, Hinch said. The Tigers are planning for his return to the majors sometime around Sept. 1, when rosters expand to 28. "It might time up perfectly for that," Hinch said. "If it doesn't, if it's a day before or day after, so be it. But the hope is that late August, early September he's back up and running."

• Catcher Jake Rogers (right arm soreness) recently took swings in Lakeland. He hasn't started his throwing program, but the Tigers still expect to get him back before the season ends. Rogers remains on track for a mid-September return, which is when he would be eligible to come off the injured list. "It's a fixed target this time, and we're trying to map out the next three weeks to line him up perfectly," Hinch said. "It's going to take at least a couple weeks of throwing and ramping him into catching activities for him to hit that mark."

Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers injuries: Matthew Boyd, Eric Haase close to returning