Take two for Jeimer Candelario.
After his first return from Triple-A Toledo this season was cut short by a shoulder injury, Candelario was back in Detroit Wednesday night and collected two hits in the Tigers' loss to the Rangers.
There's still hope within the organization that Candelario, 25, is the long-term answer at third base. But he's running out of chances to prove it. To make good on this one, he'll need to hit like he did in the first half last year and, more importantly, stay healthy.
Candelario hasn't looked the same since being diagnosed last season with tendonitis in his left wrist. And this season he's been dogged by his left shoulder.
But he smacked the ball in his latest rehab assignment in Toledo, a 10-game stint that Ron Gardenhire believes was beneficial for Candelario after he struggled mightily to start the year.
"It had to be," Gardenhire told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket. "He was scuffling up here and sometimes sending them down is just kind of a refresher. There's not as much pressure down there. There's still pressure to play and get back up here, but sometimes they just need to clear their mind and go down and get some swings and hopefully get some confidence back because up here in the big leagues, facing big league pitching every night, you can just get absolutely worn out. It starts wearing on you.
If he can get back on track, it would be a significant boon to Detroit's fledgling rebuild, which is wanting badly for good hitters. If there's pressure on Candelario to perform, even more than there was a year ago, he told reporters on Wednesday he doesn't feel it.
"I put myself in a good position to come back,” he said. “Nobody was trying to put pressure on me. Just work and do whatever I’ve got to do to get back. I don’t put pressure on myself. I keep that on the side. I know good things are going to happen.”
The Tigers are trying to maintain the same belief, as Al Avila said earlier this month.
“Jeimer is still young enough where there’s still optimism that he can become the player that we think he can become. He’s still young enough to do that," said Avila. "However, anytime a player struggles you do get concerned. It’s a work in progress."
Candelario's re-emergence would be a welcome development for a Tigers team that is 4-17 this month and 2-19 in its last 21 games at home. At this point, Gardenhire said he's trying to start each day with a fresh outlook.
"That's basically all you can do. Everybody knows it, the players know it, they're struggling offensively. We just don't score any runs and the pitchers put pressure on themselves trying to not give up anything," he said. "(Matthew) Boyd threw pretty good last night, but you get behind and you kind of sense the feeling in the dugout. You try to keep them going, put together good at-bats, but unfortunately we're not just not scoring runs.
"That's really tough for a pitching staff and a whole baseball team."