DETROIT — Reliever Matt Wisler is indeed headed back to the injured list, his return to action after being sidelined 3 ½ weeks due to right middle finger inflammation lasting all of five pitches Wednesday.
Right-hander Louis Head, who was sent down Wednesday to make room for Wisler, is expected to be called back up, which will be his 11th stint with the Rays this season and all since late April.
The Rays had given Wisler extra time to make sure he was over the inflammation, which popped up unexpectedly after his Aug. 15 outing in Minnesota, and he assured them he was ready after throwing in a Sept. 5 rehab game for Triple-A Durham.
He was summoned in the eighth inning Wednesday to protect the 1-0 lead the Rays had just taken. He acknowledged he felt some discomfort while warming up but wanted to pitch. Manager Kevin Cash and the staff needed to see him face just one batter, allowing a leadoff single to Alex Verdugo, to know he wasn’t right.
“The guy, he wants to compete, just like all of them do,” Cash said. “Talking to him on the mound, he’s like, ‘Yeah, I feel it but I ... can gut it out.’ Well, that doesn’t work. He’s too valuable to us where we’re at right now. And if we can buy some extra days to calm it down and see if we can get him some innings elsewhere, then we should do that.”
Wisler is 2-3, 2.30 in 25 games for the Rays, who acquired him in a small trade after he was designated for assignment by the Giants in early June.
Head was called up Tuesday, threw two scoreless innings that night and was sent down Wednesday. In 21 appearances, the 31-year-old rookie is 1-0, 2.93 with 26 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings.
The Rays also have to decide Friday whether to activate outfielder Brett Phillips, who is eligible to return from the injured list after missing 11 days with a sprained right ankle, or keep rookie outfielder Josh Lowe, who debuted Wednesday, for another game or make another move and have both active.
Archer just wants to help
Chris Archer was excited about the progress he showed Saturday in his third start since returning from an April forearm injury, considering the five-inning, 78-pitch workload a promising sign of what was to come. But he said he also was good with the Rays’ plan to bump him, at least temporarily, from what had been a six-man rotation and have him pitch in relief either behind Michael Wacha on Friday or Luis Patino on Saturday.
“I’ve been saying this since spring — whatever it takes to help this team,” Archer said. “As long as things keep going our way, it’s very likely that something like this happens in the postseason also. So it’s an opportunity for me to reacquaint myself with (coming out of the bullpen). And, yeah, whatever they ask me to do, I’m willing to do.”
Plus Cash said, and Archer agreed, there could be a benefit to a lighter workload given Saturday’s outing was his longest since August 2019, with the expectation he will start again next week when the Rays return home beginning Sept. 16.
Miscellany
⋅ The Rays haven’t played the Tigers since Aug. 18, 2019, and haven’t been to Detroit since June 6, 2019.
⋅ Wander Franco’s 38-game on-base streak is the third longest in Rays history for a player of any age, trailing Tommy Pham’s 48 in 2018-19 and Johnny Damon’s single-season best 39 in 2011.
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