Upton exits, day to day with left calf strain
Tigers outfielder not concerned, hopes to be back in lineup Tuesday
DETROIT -- Justin Upton's late-season resurgence at the plate has done wonders for the Tigers' postseason hopes, but the power-hitting left fielder is now the latest among their injury woes. He left Monday's 4-2 win over the Twins with what the team listed as a left calf strain.
Upton is listed as day to day, and he said after the game he feels fine and hopes to be able to play Tuesday.
Upton tracked down a single in left field and made a wild throw back into the infield in the third, but it wasn't clear at the time that he had injured anything. Not until Tyler Collins stepped on deck to bat for Upton in the bottom of the third inning was it clear something was amiss.
Collins didn't come up to bat, but he replaced Upton in left for the fourth. Though Upton said that play was a red flag, it was not the one specific instance that drove him out of the game.
"It's kind of one of those things that's been growing a couple days," Upton said. "I finally pushed myself too far, so [I'll] get some treatment on it and see how it feels."
Upton had a tough time planting on that throw and did not want to make a mistake because his calf was bothering him.
Upton is batting .238 with 22 home runs and 70 RBIs, but he has done quite a bit of that damage lately. He's batting 23-for-74 over his last 21 games with nine home runs and 24 RBIs, including a pair of go-ahead homers on the Tigers' last road trip.
His injury comes as the Tigers have whittled their list of injured position players to Nick Castellanos, who began taking batting practice Monday in his rehab from a fractured left hand that has sidelined him for five weeks.