Gleyber Torres remains sidelined and will spend the next two days off from swinging as the Tigers wait to see if he can return before Tuesday's game at Comerica Park.
Torres has not played since May 2 and was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain on May 4. He is in the middle of a planned four days off from swinging after a setback in a recent hitting progression; Torres tried to take swings in the cage on Saturday but "felt the same discomfort," and he said Sunday that "We just want to get a few days off before getting back to swinging."
Those days of rest are happening amid a slump for the club. The Tigers entered Sunday at 20-32 and have dropped 15 of 18 games since Torres went out. Before the injury, Torres had hit.259 with two home runs, 25 walks and 22 strikeouts across 32 games, producing a.716 OPS and a.389 on-base percentage that ranked third on the Tigers — figures the team has sorely missed in the lineup.
The offensive numbers since Torres' absence underline the stakes: the Tigers have averaged 2.4 runs per game, are 15 for 115 with runners in scoring position since May 4 and had seven hits or fewer in nine games prior to Sunday. Manager A.J. Hinch acknowledged the gap: "Everything changes when you lose someone of Gleyber's presence, and we've got to overcome it." Hinch said the club has even moved players in the order — noting Dillon Dingler had to move up toward the top of the order because of Torres' absence.
The immediate plan is narrow and strictly symptom-driven. Torres said Sunday, "I got a couple of days off already," and that he will rest Sunday and Monday and try again Tuesday. He added plainly, "The last time I tried to swing, I didn't feel comfortable," and that "It's painful. I'm really frustrated." The Tigers hope he will be able to swing without any symptoms before Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Angels at Comerica Park, but there is no timeline for his return beyond that cautious check-in.
The team faces a practical tension: Torres has a history of playing through discomfort — "In the past, I played with pain. I know how it is. The oblique got me," he said — yet the current approach is to back off until swinging can be cleared symptom-free. That contradiction drives the club's short-term choices: rest now and risk prolonging absence, or push to accelerate a return and risk recurring pain. Torres made the decision concrete when he said, "It kills me the way I'm not able to swing."
What happens next is straightforward and consequential. Torres will rest Sunday and Monday and attempt to resume swings on Tuesday; the Tigers will only clear him to resume full hitting if he can swing without symptoms ahead of that home game. If he cannot, the team will have to continue navigating an offensive slide that has already produced a steep run of losses and strained the lineup.
For now the story closes on Torres himself — frustrated, exacting and set to test his body on a specific day. He has not played since May 2; whether a few days off will let him swing pain-free by Tuesday will decide not just his timetable but, in the short term, how the Tigers try to stop a 15-of-18 stretch from becoming a longer skid.
