MINNEAPOLIS – Reinforcements have arrived.
The Detroit Tigers have activated Riley Greene off the 10-day injured list and pitcher Beau Brieske was recalled from Triple-A Toledo when MLB rosters were allowed to expand on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Greene, who has been out with a hamstring injury, was immediately put into the starting lineup. He will play left field and bat cleanup against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday. Brieske will work out of the bullpen. He last pitched in Detroit on July 12 against Philadelphia.
“He's tweaked his arsenal a little bit,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of Brieske. “He's throwing his curveball again and he’s trying to give the hitter a little bit of a different
look, be less predictable with all the hard stuff that he's been throwing. He's always had the good changeup. He's always had a good fastball, but when he was last up here, he was predominantly fastball. That's a difficult way to survive at this level.”
Brieske has pitched eight games for the Tigers in 2026, recording eight strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings. He has a 6.75 ERA.
“He's earned his way back to come up,” Hinch said.
Jack Flaherty's progress report? Positive
Jake Flaherty, who has been out with right flexor inflammation, threw a live bullpen on Monday before the Tigers played the Twins. He threw 20 pitches while facing Eduardo Valencia and Brett Callahan.
“Velo is up to 93, which is a good sign that he is letting it go a little bit,” Hinch said. “So he reported afterwards that he felt great and was sort of itching to talk about pitches and pitching as opposed to rehab and medical. So that was an encouraging sign.”
Flaherty will be on a normal five-day plan and will have a bullpen in a few days.
“Then we'll see what's next for him,” Hinch said.
Would his next outing be another live or a real game?
“That'll be the debate (Wednesday),” Hinch said. “This is the first time that he had a warm up, a sit down, go out and throw an inning, come back and sit down, and then we're going to see how he feels.”
It’s becoming clear that if he does return to the Tigers, Flaherty probably doesn’t have enough time to be built back into a normal starting pitcher.
“The reality is setting in that it's going to be really hard to build him all the way back up into that five, six, or seven-inning pitcher," Hinch said. "But that doesn't mean that we won't be more creative with him if the recovery continues.”
Other injury news
Brant Hurter (lumbar spine inflammation) will pitch a rehab assignment either Tuesday or Wednesday with Toledo. “He’ll continue his rehab assignment, which is a good sign,” Hinch said.
Hinch also said that both Matt Vierling and Kerry Carpenter have made small progress.
Vierling (left adductor strain, left heel inflammation) is completing rehab daily and Carpenter (left foot plantar fasciitis) has initiated a running and hitting progression.
“Slight progress,” Hinch said. “Carp is doing a little bit more baseball things. Matt is moving around a little bit, but I don't know what that means yet.”
So, what would happen if any of these players gets healthy enough to return? At a time when the Tigers have a roster loaded with rookies?
“Let's hope we have that dilemma because it means that the injured guys are trending back towards baseball activity and Major League quality games,” Hinch said. “We want our boys back and we want them to be healthy. In the meantime, there is opportunity for these younger guys to get looked at and to contribute and get some experience. So until we have that that decision point, I don't really know how to move forward other than to play the guys who are here and are healthy and see what happens as September transpires. But we do want our guys back.”
Finally, righty Burch Smith (right shoulder inflammation) received a right shoulder arthroscopic procedure on Monday and it appears his season is done.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Riley Greene is healthy, Beau Brieske tweaked his arsenal for Tigers
