KANSAS CITY -- Twenty-three weeks have passed since Christin Stewart's go-ahead home run on Opening Day in Toronto. It feels longer than that, the way the Tigers' season has unfolded since then -- and Stewart’s season, too.

His pinch-hit, game-tying single in the eighth inning of a 6-5 loss to the Royals on Tuesday night was a reminder. Not only was Stewart in the Opening Day lineup, he was a prominent member of it, a key cog in the Tigers’ efforts to generate offense. An early-season slump, a mid-April right quad strain that cost him three weeks, a midseason power shortage, then a late July run into the outfield wall at Angel Stadium all sapped the buzz that Stewart’s strong finish generated last September.

His return this September is different. The Tigers have seen him, good and bad. Now they have to figure out where he can fit into their plans, in the lineup as well as in the field.

“He’ll have plenty of opportunity in the outfield to swing the bat and see how much he’s improved on his defense,” manager Ron Gardenhire said after the club promoted Stewart from Triple-A Toledo on Tuesday. “We know he has to work on that.”

Stewart wasn’t in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s series opener against Royals lefty Mike Montgomery, but Stewart entered off the bench once Jeimer Candelario's double put runners at second and third against righty reliever Kevin McCarthy. After taking a first-pitch sinker at the knees for a strike, Stewart went for the offspeed pitch in the same location and pulled it into right field. It wasn’t majestic, but it was effective, tying the game and setting up Brandon Dixon's go-ahead sacrifice fly seven pitches later.

One night later, Stewart was back in the starting lineup for the first time since July 29 against Royals right-hander Jakob Junis. Though Gardenhire said he feels comfortable with Stewart hitting against lefties, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more of a platoon as Gardenhire tries to work four outfielders into three spots, including switch-hitting Victor Reyes, super-utility player turned center fielder Harold Castro and right-handed hitter Travis Demeritte.

Stewart, for his part, said there’s no added pressure to try to prove anything down the stretch.

“I wouldn’t say a sense of urgency, just because there’s always urgency,” he said. “We’re all competitive and trying to win games. I’m just trying to come up here and look to be me, try to do what I do best and give it all I’ve got.”

Whether Stewart was hitting like himself much this summer is worth wondering. While his .241 average entering Wednesday is low, the bigger surprise might be the strikeouts, 78 of them in 328 plate appearances compared with 69 hits and 31 walks.

Stewart’s power has also been down. He hit more than half as many home runs in 22 games and 102 plate appearances with Toledo (four) as he did through 82 games and 328 plate appearances with Detroit (seven).

While Stewart has hit fastballs well this season, with a .433 slugging percentage and .349 weighted on-base average, that has come at a price. His swing-and-miss rate is up to 20.9 percent on fastballs, according to Statcast, compared with 13.8 percent during his September stint last season.

Garcia under restrictions

The sight of just-recalled Zac Reininger entering a tie game in the ninth inning on Tuesday night was a surprise, especially considering the Tigers called up Bryan Garcia for his first big league stint to get a look at him in big situations. Why no Garcia there, or in the eighth inning with a one-run lead?

Well, Garcia’s late-season audition comes with some restrictions. The relief prospect is not supposed to pitch on consecutive days as he wraps up his first season after Tommy John surgery in February 2018. He pitched the ninth inning against the Twins on Monday afternoon after Minnesota pulled ahead in the eighth.

“Garcia we want to see,” Gardenhire said. “We know what we can do with him and we know what we can’t do with him. He’s an every-other-day pitcher at best. He would’ve been in there [Tuesday] if he hadn’t been in there the day before."

SeaWolves auction for Numata family

The Double-A Erie SeaWolves have set up an online auction of items from players, coaches and instructors to raise money for the family of SeaWolves catcher Chace Numata, who died on Monday following a skateboard accident last weekend.

Among the items up for bid on the LiveSource app are game-worn, autographed jerseys from Tigers catcher Jake Rogers and prospects Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Tarik Skubal, Alex Faedo and Isaac Paredes. An autographed baseball and photo from Hall of Famer Alan Trammell is also up for auction. The bidding runs through Saturday at 9 p.m. ET.

Fans and members of the baseball community who would like to send letters and cards of condolence to the Numata family can send them to:

Erie SeaWolves
Attn: Numata Family
UPMC Park
110 East 10th Street
Erie, Pa. 16501