Omar Infante in starting lineup despite thumb injury – MLB Detroit Tigers News
According to a leading sports website, Detroit Tigers’ second baseman Omar Infante suffered a right thumb contusion on Tuesday night in Tigers’ American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees. However, despite his thumb injury, Infante is
in the starting line-up in Game 4 of the ALCS.
Manager Jim Leyland is very impressed with what he has seen from Infante since the start of the season. Not only is he a very a talented hitter, he also has the ability to make the difference defensively. He is young and passionate about what he does.
Infante injured his thumb while trying to make a play on a single up the middle by Yankees’ hitter Mark Teixeira in ninth inning of Game 3. Tigers eventually held off New York for a 2-1 victory to claim 3-0 series lead.
"Seriously, that call was atrocious," wrote Justin Sablich of The New York Times. "Girardi had every right to go nuts on Nelson, and Nelson didn’t really have a right to toss Girardi after messing up that badly."
"These guys are under a tremendous amount of pressure. It's a tough call for him because the tag is underneath and it's hard for him to see. It takes more time for me to argue and get upset than [if] you get the call right. There's just too much at stake.
I mean, we played 235 days to get to this point," said Yankees’ Manager Joe Girardi.
Leyland wanted Infante to be ready for the next game. Luckily for the Tigers and Infante, the X-rays came back negative. The skipper told the reporters that the second baseman twisted his thumb on his side as he tried to make the play in right field.
Infante showed the stuff he is capable during the American League Division Series, finishing with six runs with an impressive .353. However, he has struggled against the Yankees’ pitchers in first three ALCS games, going 2-for-13 with a poor .154 average
and one run scored.
It will be interesting to see if Infante can find scoring ways against C.C. Sabathia in Game 4 to help the Tigers complete a deserving series sweep.
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