The Detroit Tigers will take it as good news.
A day after right-hander Jordan Zimmermann underwent a MRI test on his right lat, there was nothing to report, manager Brad Ausmus said.
The test came back clean. The team is chalking it up to tightness. But the concern is why Zimmermann, after a month on the 15-day disabled list with a right neck strain, is still experiencing the tightness.
"It could just be soreness from having started to throw again," Ausmus said. "Because he felt good coming out of the bullpen. It wasn't until after the first inning, in the middle of the first inning, that he started to feel the tightness. So it might just have been his body responding to pitching."
Zimmermann's next step will be a bullpen session on Sunday, at which point the Tigers will have a better understanding as to whether or not he will need another DL stint.
Asked if he could rule one out, Ausmus said, "For at least until Sunday."
Zimmermann was shelled in his first start off the DL on Thursday afternoon against the Chicago White Sox, allowing six runs on six hits and two walks over 12/3 innings. He had been on the DL with a right neck strain since July 4 and hadn't pitched since June 30.
"His lat was a little bit tight," Ausmus said after the game. "Not really related to what the issue was when he was on the DL. He just couldn't seem to get loose. There was no pain, he was just having trouble getting extended and locating the ball. So we went with him as long as we could. But ultimately, we chose to take him out."
Ausmus wouldn't term Zimmermann as injured.
"Not at this point," he said. "There was nothing that we could point to that was causing it other than it was tight.
"If it's just tightness, then it might not show up on a MRI and it means it's not quote-unquote an injury. As you get older, you'll start to have parts of your body get tight, too. It doesn't mean you're injured, but it doesn't mean it's not there, as well."
Zimmermann threw 53 pitches, many of those in the low-90-mph range with little life. It seems unlikely the Tigers would send him back out to the mound with the same kind of stuff he was featuring.
Lefty Daniel Norris would be on a regular rest schedule to start against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, if Zimmermann is unable to make the start. Norris recently allowed one run on five hits over seven innings for Triple-A Toledo on Thursday evening.
Zimmermann, 30, has a 4.44 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in 16 starts this season. He signed a five-year, $110 million contract in the offseason. He was named American League Pitcher of the Month in April, posting an 0.55 ERA in five starts. He has posted a 6.44 ERA in nine starts since, having battled through a right groin issue and now this.
Asked if the Tigers were in a wait-and-see mode, Ausmus said, "Pretty much. The schedule remains the same. We'll have him throw on Sunday so we'll go from there."
