Tuesday afternoon at Comerica Park did not begin with good news. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch announced right-hander Spencer Turnbull is out for the season. He will undergo Tommy John surgery, a procedure with a recovery time of anywhere from 12 to 18 months. That means Turnbull — who had a 2.88 ERA in nine starts for the Tigers this year — is likely to miss nearly all of next season, too.
“He’s seen an array of doctors and had tests and multiple opinions,” Hinch said. “He had some chronic damage that was revealed through the injury. It wasn’t an abrupt injury to his UCL. When he came back and failed in his throwing program, he got retested. And (surgery) was the recommendation.