The Tigers placed right-hander Beau Brieske on the 15-day injured list yesterday, and righty Brenan Hanifee was called up in the corresponding move. Brieske has been sidelined by inflammation in his right ankle, and manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that the pitcher had been trying to play through ankle soreness for the last couple of weeks.
The injury went from sore to more severe after Brieske rolled his ankle while fielding a grounder during a relief appearance in Detroit’s 7-6 win over the Twins on April 11. Brieske wasn’t used again until Thursday when he threw 30 pitches over one-plus innings of relief, “and was pretty beat up” physically, Hinch said. The decision was then made for a proper IL stint in order to help the righty fully recover.
Playing hurt might explain Brieske’s shaky numbers over the season’s first three weeks. The reliever has an 8.59 ERA and only an 11.1% strikeout rate in his first seven games and 7 1/3 innings of the 2025 campaign, though Brieske has had some bad luck in the form of an unfathomably low 39.2% strand rate. However, he has already allowed two homers this season, after giving up five long balls over 67 2/3 frames in 2024.
Brieske was far more effective in 2023-24, posting a 3.59 ERA over 102 2/3 innings while working in a variety of different roles out of the Tigers’ bullpen. Technically, some of those bullpen outings were starts since Hinch frequently used Brieske as an opener, but the right-hander also got long relief work and some more standard one-inning outings. Brieske’s flexible usage contributed to the “pitching chaos” strategy that helped Detroit make its big late-season surge and playoff run in 2024, though obviously he simply hasn’t been nearly as effective in the early going this year.
Jason Foley is another reliever whose fortunes have taken a turn for the worse in 2025, as the Tigers’ more frequent closer from last season began this year in the minor leagues after a rough Spring Training. He looked sharp in throwing five scoreless innings with Triple-A Toledo, but any plans for a call-up were put on hold when Toledo placed Foley on the seven-day IL on Thursday due to a right shoulder strain.
Foley hasn’t pitched in a week, and Hinch told MLB.com’s Jason Beck that “We’re getting him evaluated. I feel for him, because it comes at a time where he was starting to throw the ball pretty well and [was] starting…
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