Detroit Tigers catcher Gerald Laird left their game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night with a cramp in his left hamstring. Fortunately for the Tigers, they have another catcher coming back from a hamstring injury on Thursday -- Alex Avila will start against the Cardinals in the last game of the series, his first game back since being placed on the disabled list on June 6.
Detroit planned to send Bryan Holaday down to the minors when bringing up Avila, but now things might be different. The Tigers could keep Holaday and place Laird on the DL. Manager Jim Leyland initially thought that was what they'd have to do, via Chris Iott of mlive.com.
"My initial thought was probably DL, because it looked maybe like a pulled groin area or something," Leyland said shortly after the game. "I wasn't really sure what it was. But they're telling me it cramped up on him. It'll be reevaluated tomorrow to see what we have to do."
Laird said after the game that he thinks "it's just going to be a day-to-day thing."
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