Iglesias sidelined by groin injury
Shortstop sits out Thursday, likely to miss Friday's opener against Royals
CHICAGO -- What looked like a day game off after a night game is actually a bigger concern for Jose Iglesias, who aggravated his groin injury in Wednesday's loss to the White Sox.
Not only did Iglesias miss Thursday's series finale, he appears doubtful for Friday's series opener against the Royals at Comerica Park.
"It'll probably be a couple days, I would think," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said.
Iglesias left Sunday's game at Kansas City with what was called groin tightness. He missed Tuesday's opener against the White Sox in large part because of a forecast for wet field conditions, but he returned Wednesday and reached base twice. Ausmus said he noticed something wrong with Iglesias when he scored from second on Victor Martinez's eighth-inning single.
Iglesias told two different people he was fine and stayed in to finish the game, but he reported soreness Thursday morning. Hernan Perez started in Iglesias' place Thursday afternoon.
Though Iglesias entered Thursday ranked fourth among American League hitters with a .349 (29-for-83) average, his bigger value has been in the field, where his stellar defense has arguably put him into the American League All-Star conversation. He made a couple of highlight plays against the Royals last weekend, helping Detroit salvage a four-game series split.