DETROIT (AP) -The Detroit Tigers recalled Joel Zumaya from his rehabilitation assignment and optioned Aquilino Lopez to Triple-A Toledo, making the hard-throwing reliever available for Tuesday night’s game against the Cleveland Indians.
Zumaya, whose fastball regularly tops 100 mph, had surgery three months ago to repair a ruptured tendon in his right middle finger. He was put on the disabled list May 3 with a 1-1 record, 3.63 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 13 appearances this season.
The right-handed setup man ranked third among AL relievers with 97 strikeouts last season, helping Detroit reach the playoffs for the first time since 1987 and advance to the World Series for the first time since 1984.
The slumping Tigers open a homestand Tuesday night against Cleveland, which has a 1 1/2-game lead over them in the AL Central, before starting a four-game series with the New York Yankees, who lead Detroit by 2 1/2 games in the wild-card race.
Since the Tigers had the best record in baseball on July 21, they are 9-20.
Lopez had one save and a 5.19 ERA in 10 games for Detroit. He struck out seven and walked six over 17 1-3 innings.
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