DETROIT -- Shane Greene felt a little sore, but generally fine Saturday morning after the first outing of his Minor League rehab assignment Friday night for Class A West Michigan. He'll make at least one more rehab start, moving up to Triple-A Toledo to pitch Wednesday morning against Durham.
It's a buildup process for Greene, who threw 42 pitches over three scoreless innings for West Michigan at Fort Wayne. He gave up two hits and a walk while striking out five.
"Everything felt good," Greene said. "Overall, my arm felt really good, the ball came out really good. I was pretty happy with what my pitches were doing and where they were going. Overall, pretty happy. Little sore today, but that's pretty normal soreness."
Greene took a line drive off his right heel in his third and final inning, but he said the ball caught more of his cleat than his ankle, causing some tenderness but no swelling. He finished the inning, reaching his intended pitch-count range.
After nearly a month on the shelf with a ruptured blister on his right middle finger, he was simply happy to be back pitching in game action again, even at the lower levels.
"I just want to play baseball," Greene said. "That stinks watching all your friends get to play the game."
Greene's pitch count will bump up to 60 on Wednesday. Though Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said Saturday they haven't planned it out from there, the pitch count would strongly suggest at least one more rehab outing after that to stretch out a little further.
Tigers top prospect Michael Fulmer has been filling the rotation spot while Greene has been on the DL.