A minor league player who thought his season was over will get his first major league start for the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.
Brendon Davis, a 25-year-old infielder, got a surprise callup and will be in the lineup when Detroit hosts the Minnesota Twins in the second game of a three-game series.
Davis was elevated from Triple-A Toledo on Friday after Willi Castro sustained a hamstring strain on Thursday.
“He’s going to start at third base (Saturday),” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of Davis. “We have a small opportunity here, only a week. But as I told him in my office, any opportunity is a good opportunity. Just come and do your best to play the game.”
Davis has 747 games of minor league experience. The Tigers organization claimed him from the Los Angeles Angels in May.
He hit six home runs in September for the Mud Hens, but their season ended earlier this week. Davis was home in the Phoenix area when he was informed his services were needed.
“This came out of the blue for sure,” Davis told the Detroit News. “I wasn’t expecting it, but it’s a great opportunity. An opportunity I’ve been working for my whole life.”
Right-hander Drew Hutchison (3-9, 4.54 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for the Tigers (63-93). He earned a win in his latest start, pitching the minimum five innings and allowing two solo homers against the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 24. He allowed a total of 10 runs on 16 hits in 10 innings over his previous two starts.
Hutchison made a relief appearance against Minnesota on April 27, throwing one scoreless inning. For his career, he is 2-0 with a 4.94 ERA in six games (four starts) vs. the Twins.
He will be opposed by Dylan Bundy (8-8, 4.93 ERA), who has been victimized by the long balls in recent starts. The right-hander allowed seven home runs over his past four outings. He gave up five runs (four earned) in 3 1/3 innings during a no-decision against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
Bundy started twice against Detroit in May and came away with a pair of no-decisions. He is 0-2 with a 4.41 ERA in seven career outings against the Tigers, including six starts.
Carlos Correa hit a two-run homer in the series opener as Minnesota (77-80) ended Detroit’s six-game winning streak with a 7-0 win on Friday. The Twins, who need to win their five remaining games to finish above .500, banged out 14 hits while their pitching staff collected 11 strikeouts.
Correa had a hot September, hitting seven homers and batting .346. For the season, he has 22 home runs, 63 RBIs and a .287 average.
“I was a little more aggressive this month,” he said in a postgame TV interview. “I’m swinging at better pitches. I’m not taking that first-pitch strike down the middle, and it’s been paying dividends.”
Correa is in unfamiliar territory on a team playing out the string after spending his first seven seasons with the Houston Astros, a perennial playoff team.
“It’s different, that’s for sure,” he said. “My message in the clubhouse to the young guys is go out there and show the team what you’ve got and the talent you have and next year when you show up for spring training, fight for a job.”
–Field Level Media
