Tigers placed DH Victor Martinez on 15-day DL with knee inflammation
The Detroit Tigers placed designated hitter Victor Martinez on the 15-day disabled list with left knee inflammation, the team announced Tuesday.
On Monday, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus expressed concern about Martinez after he tweaked his surgically-repaired left knee during Monday’s game against Milwaukee Brewers and continued his struggles at the plate.
Martinez limped in pain after trying to beat out a double-play ground ball in the eighth-inning of the 3-2 loss to Milwaukee, and the team was concerned about the injury as well as his recent struggles against right-handed pitching.
When asked if he thought he was helping the team, the switch-hitting Martinez said, "I don't know. That's a good question."
"From the looks of things, I think we're going to have to at least talk about other options. But we'll do that privately," Ausmus said, according to MLB.com.
Martinez said he is not keen on the idea of giving up switch-hitting.
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”Something that I'm never going to do and I have never done is just going out there and go righty on righty," Martinez said, according to MLB.com. "Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to react when the pitcher throws the ball," Martinez said. "I might get out of the way. I've never done it before."
Ausmus says changing the way Martinez bats is not in the discussion at this time.
“We thought about it, we talked about it and he's not comfortable with it," Ausmus said. "If he's not comfortable with it, obviously we aren't going to be comfortable with it."
Martinez is batting .143 against right-handed pitching this season and is hitting .216 overall with one home run and 15 RBIs for Detroit, who are 1.5 games behind the Kansas City Royals for the American League Central lead.
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