Turnbull 'definitely not' hurt after unusual mix-up

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers' fielders were all warmed up and ready for the top of the fourth inning in Sunday's 10-4 win over the Yankees. All they needed was a pitcher.

That proved to be tougher than it should have been. Nobody was on the mound as the between-innings clock ticked down. Nobody was warming in the bullpen, either. Even Yankees manager Aaron Boone was confused, asking plate umpire Jerry Layne what was going on.

Out came Spencer Turnbull, racing from the dugout to the mound with a hop over the foul line to get a potential fourth inning of work. After a few warmup pitches, out came manager Ron Gardenhire with athletic trainer Matt Rankin to pull Turnbull.

It was a crazy scene for a team that had its share of crazy scenes last year. In Sunday’s case, it was a miscommunication.

“Either someone forgot to call down [to the bullpen] or the message wasn't relayed,” Turnbull said. "But nobody had warmed up. … Literally no one had even taken a sweatshirt off down there.”

Turnbull entered his second start of the spring with a target of three innings or 40 pitches. He needed just 29 pitches to post three scoreless innings and three strikeouts, allowing only a Rosell Herrera single, while facing the minimum nine batters.

Though Turnbull could’ve thrown 11 more pitches, he and Tigers coaches were in agreement that he was done. Apparently word didn’t get out beyond the right-field fence to the Tigers' bullpen, where everyone apparently figured Turnbull was at least going to start the fourth inning.

The miscommunication, Gardenhire said, involved a walkie-talkie, which pitching coach Rick Anderson promptly destroyed.

"That sucker bounced from the ground all the way to the ceiling," Gardenhire said.

Somebody had to take the mound. So Gardenhire had Turnbull, who was still in the dugout, head back out to throw warmup pitches and buy time for Buck Farmer to warm up.

“Buck had literally just … I watched him take his sweatshirt off. He had been sitting,” Turnbull said. “I’m like, ‘All right, I’ll go buy you some time.’”

After a few warmup tosses, Turnbull continued, “The umpire looked at me like, ‘You good?’ I was like, ‘No, I am not good. He needs more time.’”

At that point, enter Gardenhire, followed by Rankin, who walked with Turnbull back to the dugout. If a pitcher leaves a game due to injury, the relief pitcher can take extra warmup pitches, though Farmer didn’t appear to have any more warmup tosses than usual.

“So I walked out there, talked to Turnbull and I said, 'Act like your finger's hurting,'” Gardenhire said. “And he goes [shakes his hand around] and I go, 'Knock it off.'

“Jerry said, ‘Take as much time as you need.’ Buck comes in [winded] going, ‘I’m ready. I can do this.’ And I’m going, ‘What a cluster. Spring Training for everybody.’"

Farmer looked hurried, walking two batters, but induced a double-play grounder between them, before another groundout ended the inning.

“It was just a miscommunication,” Turnbull reiterated. “We just needed to give our guy some time to warm up. It’s Spring Training and everybody’s trying to figure everything out.”

Once Farmer finished the inning, Turnbull had a brief chat with Gardenhire before walking back to the clubhouse. Asked what the discussion was about, Turnbull smiled.

“That was what to say to you guys about that,” Turnbull said. “Because the trainer came out and everything and I don’t want anybody to think I’m hurt, because I’m definitely not. I’m like, ‘Do you want me to fake a blister or something?’”

Greene day
Riley Greene’s days in Grapefruit League games might be near an end now that Minor League camp is about to start up, but the first-round pick continues to impress. He didn’t homer Sunday, but his RBI single continued his trend of production.

Greene improved to 3-for-8 this spring with two home runs, five walks, four RBIs and six runs scored.

“I’m just taking it day by day, really,” Greene said. “I’m obviously seeing the ball well, feeling good up at the plate. Just keep going.”

He’ll keep going on the Minor League side, it appears.

“He’s a pretty good baseball player, and we like to see him, too, just like everybody else does,” Gardenhire said. “But he’s going to start playing games down there soon. And when they crank it up and get going, he should be down there getting himself ready for a season rather than getting one or two at-bats here.”

Injury updates
• Outfielder Cameron Maybin missed his third consecutive game, but Gardenhire said it’s not a serious injury concern.

“There’s stuff going on that he’s working through and I told him to take whatever [he needs],” Gardenhire said. “He said he needs a couple days to get everything straightened out.”

• Third baseman Isaac Paredes, out since early in camp with right shoulder soreness, is close to a return, Gardenhire said.

Up next
Daniel Norris will make his second start of the spring on Monday as the Tigers welcome the Red Sox to Joker Marchant Stadium for a 1:05 p.m. ET contest. Norris threw two scoreless innings on Wednesday against the Blue Jays with a fastball that sat at 92-93 mph. Fans can listen to the game in Detroit on AM 1270 or online with Gameday Audio.