Riley Greene's terrific month of May deserved a better ending.
The Tigers center fielder left Tuesday's loss to the Rangers with a leg injury that was revealed to be a stress fracture in his left fibula. Greene has been placed on the 10-day IL, and will likely be out much longer than that. The Tigers have no timetable for his return.
For now, the club is sending him to get a second opinion, but fibula stress fractures typically take about six weeks to heal. If that's the case for Greene, he will be gone until at least the All-Star break and likely won't be back until closer to August.
It's a brutal blow for the Tigers, who have followed Greene's lead as they've clawed their way back in the winnable AL Central. The 22-year-old entered Tuesday leading the American League with a .368 average in May, while the Tigers had clinched their first winning month since the 2021 season.
Now they'll likely be without both Greene and ace Eduardo Rodriguez for the foreseeable future. Rodriguez, who had been building significant trade value while anchoring Detroit's rotation, landed on the 15-day IL Tuesday with a finger injury that could take a month or two to heal.
Greene also missed the first two and a half months of last season with a fractured right foot.
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