Shane Greene will return to Tigers for Sunday start

MINNEAPOLIS – Shane Greene will return to the big leagues Sunday.

The Detroit Tigers will call up the right-hander to make the final start of the first half against the Twins, manager Brad Ausmus said this afternoon at Target Field.

"He's looked better," Ausmus said. "He's improved since he got there."

Ausmus said Greene has utilized his changeup more in his five starts with the Mud Hens.

Greene was optioned to the minor leagues June 12 after struggling for the better part of two months. In five starts with Toledo, he has a 3.42 ERA in 261/3 innings.

"He's been working hard down there," Ausmus said. "Nobody wants to get sent down from the big leagues to Triple-A. I've never met someone that's been happy about that."

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And although the Tigers are happy with Greene's progress and although Ausmus doesn't generally look at strikeouts as the end all-be all statistic for starting pitchers, the young righty has struck out only 14 of 114 batters (12.3%) at Toledo.

In 13 starts with the Tigers this year, Greene struck out 44 of 291 batters (15.1%) and posted a 5.82 ERA in 68 innings.

Asked if he anticipated Greene being part of the five-man rotation to start the second half, Ausmus said, "I'm not thinking past Sunday," but did say that the team would open the second half against the Orioles with right-hander Anibal Sanchez, left-hander David Price and right-hander Justin Verlander.

"You don't want to have guys that have too many days off," Ausmus said. "That's part of the reason that Sanchez pitched Friday."

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech.