Zach McKinstry returns to Tigers three weeks after tearing oblique off pelvic bone

A.J. Hinch couldn't wait to write Zach McKinstry's name into the Tigers' lineup Tuesday night. It was just a few weeks ago that McKinstry feared he could miss multiple months.

McKinstry has been reinstated from the injured list and will play third base and bat eighth against the Red Sox Tuesday night.

"Nice to be back, in quick fashion," he said.

McKinstry has been sidelined since getting banged up in three separate plays in the Tigers' win over the Royals on April 15: a violent head-first slide into home, an awkward tag at third base and a near-collision with base-runner Jac Caglianone while fielding a ground ball where McKinstry flew through the air and fell on his hip.

He landed on the IL with what the Tigers deemed hip and abdominal inflammation, but McKinstry revealed prior to Tuesday's game that it was more serious than that, "a mixture of all three" incidents that could have resulted in a much longer absence.

"The stretch of the shoulder and then the slide into home, I think I tore my oblique on that one. And then on the collision, I missed him, but just avoiding that collision and landing on the hip, that’s a grade 3 tear off the pelvic bone, so that one fired up a little bit. That was the pain that brought me out of the game, and waking up the next day and sneezing wasn’t a great time. That’s what took me to the MRI," McKinstry said. "Just happy we found it and happy they gave me a couple weeks off to get better."

The typical recovery time for a grade 3 oblique tear, which sometimes requires surgery, is at least three months. But McKinstry got lucky, and the Tigers dodged another significant injury bullet.

"When you hear Grade 3 you think six to eight weeks," McKinstry said. "I had to go see a specialist and he ended up saying, honestly, it was probably the best situation, best place to do it. It wasn’t like a baseball move or intercostal. It wasn’t swinging or throwing that hurt it. It was sliding, so I was able to throw almost immediately after and I was up to 80 percent spent speed by about day six. So it was a pretty quick recovery."

A typical oblique injury is related to the rotation of the core. But as A.J. Hinch explained, "this was a unique one."

"The way it was described to me, it wasn’t a car crash but he had multiple injures that created some stress in that area, more so than it was a rotational, traditional oblique issue," Hinch said. "He was able to pick up baseball activities a lot faster than those where you see the player grimace after a swing or pitchers do it sometimes on the mound. This one was more like force when he collided with the ground."

As an added bonus, said Hinch, McKinstry was tested in his first rehab game with "an awkward throw that was the in very position that was bothering him, and he had no issues whatsoever."

"Swinging was never a problem for him, which is how we knew right away that it wasn’t — I know the difference when a guy can’t swing versus when he can, and that’s usually what’s associated with the oblique. This one was a little different," said Hinch.

Hinch and the Tigers are especially grateful for McKinstry's quick return with injuries piling up across the roster. Already without center fielder Parker Meadows for the foreseeable future, the Tigers lost Javy Baez to an ankle injury last week after an awkward slide into first and saw Gleyber Torres go down a few days later with tightness in his side after sliding into home -- though Torres is slated to return soon.

That's without mentioning all the injuries on the pitching staff, including Monday's news that Tarik Skubal is undergoing elbow surgery.

It left McKinstry feeling guilty from afar.

"I felt like I started a little trend there. Hate to see that. Watching Javy, you don’t know what happened there, could’ve been knee, could’ve been hip, ended up being ankle, you see Skuke shaking (his arm) out, you’re like, 'Oh, no,' and then Gleyber with the slide into home, it’s tough to see," said McKinstry.

Which is why the Tigers are so happy to see McKinstry, the ultimate utility man who can play wherever Hinch needs him to.

"I’m excited to get him back because of the quality of the player, but also the versatility," Hinch said. "He can change a lot of things in a game when he’s in the lineup, out of the lineup. He’s a great base-runner. He’s obviously one of our guys we lean on a ton, so getting him back in the mix is awesome for us. It’s a big addition to the lineup."