DETROIT _ It wasn't a good night for the Detroit Tigers on the injury front.
First, they lost Nick Castellanos for an extended period of time with a broken hand.
Castellanos was hit by a pitch on the left hand in the bottom of the fourth inning and left with a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal, according to the team.
According to a sports medicine doctor, the general recovery timetable for Castellanos' injury is 6-8 weeks, meaning the Tigers will be without their breakout starting third baseman for at least a month and perhaps pushing up against the end of the regular season.
Through 104 games, Castellanos is hitting .286 with 18 home runs and 58 RBI.
According to John Wagner of the Toledo Blade, Casey McGehee was pulled from tonight's game with Triple-A Toledo. McGehee is hitting .325 in 108 games with the Mud Hens.
The Tigers have two players with extensive experience at third base: utilitymen Mike Aviles and Andrew Romine. It's unclear how manager Brad Ausmus will deploy them on a daily basis.
Castellanos stayed in the game after the hit-by-pitch from Mets right-hander Logan Verrett and scored later in the inning on an Ian Kinsler single to leftfield. He did not have an official at-bat.
In more injury news, there were multiple reports that the team was planning to place right-hander Jordan Zimmermann on the 15-day disabled list following Saturday's game.
Ausmus said Zimmermann, who was expected to throw a bullpen session on Sunday, "felt pretty good yesterday throwing, so keep moving forward."
Zimmermann returned from a month-long stay on the DL with a right neck strain on Thursday and was shelled, allowing six runs on six hits and two walks over 1 2/3 innings, leaving the game with right late tightness. He threw 53 pitches, many of those in the low-90 mph range with little life. If the Tigers place Zimmermann on the DL, lefty Daniel Norris is expected to make the start on Tuesday in Seattle.
