Ausmus supports decision to put Anibal on DL

MINNEAPOLIS -- Calling it the worst blister he'd ever seen, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said it wasn't a tough call to put Anibal Sanchez on the 15-day disabled list Saturday night.

Sanchez ripped open the middle finger of his right hand in the third inning of his start against the Twins on Saturday. A callus tore free and prevented Sanchez from being able to grip the ball. Multiple off-days this week would have allowed the Tigers to push Sanchez back to May 6, but the team considered that a less-than-ideal situation.

"That would have been without [throwing] a bullpen," Ausmus said. "It just wouldn't have been the right move, to have a guy not pitch for 10 days, no bullpen, then throw him back in the fire and say, 'Go ahead.'"

And the 10-day return represented a best-case scenario. There was no guarantee that he'd be back by then, so the Tigers opted to stock up their bullpen instead. Reliever Justin Miller, who had been optioned to Triple-A Toledo on Saturday morning, was recalled to take Sanchez's place on the roster.

For the time being, the Tigers will go with an eight-man bullpen, but likely will have to call up a starter from Toledo at least for the May 6 game. That depends on the speed of Sanchez's recovery.

"We won't know that for a little while," Ausmus said. "We've got to see how it heals up. In a few days, he may cover that finger and throw just to keep the shoulder muscles loose, but in terms of being able to really snap the ball, we won't know until the skin grows over and it starts to harden up again."