Hao-Yu Lee exits game with apparent knee injury

Lee appears to have checked out fine after suffering a bruised left shin when he collided with Guardians catcher Austin Hedges while trying to score on a rundown during the nightcap of Friday’s doubleheader. The versatile 23-year-old has been on a tear at the dish since returning to the majors in mid-June, batting .295 with six homers and 28 RBI over 64 games during that span. He’s at third base with Kevin McGonigle getting a breather after playing in both games of Friday’s twin bill.

Lee was hurt in a home plate collision with Austin Hedges. It sounds like he’s day-to-day.

Lee has been red-hot and has received a lineup elevation against LHP Logan Allen. The 23-year-old second baseman has hit second, seventh, ninth, fifth, second, and now third over the past six days while starting every game — of his 12 starts in the top four slots of the order, 10 of them have come since July 28 and he’s hitting .303/.351/.480 since the start of June with seven homers and two stolen bases. Lee’s not a must-roster shallow player, but since he figures to start plenty down the stretch he’s a reasonable add in 12-team leagues.

It appears to be a routine day off with sizzling-hot rookie Hao-Yu Lee taking over at the keystone. Torres is hitting .256 (21-for-82) with three homers and 12 RBI in 20 games since the start of August.

Lee’s home run was his seventh of the year. He hit a solo shot off Michael Wacha in the fifth inning. Lee is 9-for-22 (.409) with a home run, seven runs scored and four RBI over his last 10 games. The Tigers crowded infield limits Lee’s at-bats, leaving him as merely an option in AL-Only leagues.

It looks like Lee might have overtaken Javier Báez on the depth chart for now, as Báez has now sat against the last two righties the Tigers have faced. Lee went seven straight games without starting earlier this month, but he’s gone 8-for-19 with a 2/4 K/BB over the last two weeks.

Lee had a 12-game hitting streak while playing pretty regularly in the second half of last month, but he’s taken a backseat since Javier Báez came off the IL. The Tigers seem pretty happy with Báez at short and Kevin McGonigle at third right now.

Lee extended his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games with an RBI double against Royals veteran Michael Wacha in the second inning. He capped off the multi-hit performance with a fourth-inning blast into the left-field corner. The 23-year-old rookie is tearing the cover off the ball of late, hitting .370 (10-for-27) with two homers in eight games since the All-Star break.

Lee hit an RBI single off opener Beck Way (who was a loser, baby, today) to stake the Tigers to a 2-0 lead early. That was all they’d need with Tarik Skubal on the mound. Lee added a two-out double in the sixth but was stranded. Lee has mostly worked as a platoon bat against lefties this year, starting 27 games against lefties and hitting .270/.308/.432 against them so far this year.

As a team, the Tigers couldn’t do anything against Reid Detmers and company throughout the ballgame, They finally got something going against Kirby Yates in the ninth though as Dillon Dingler was hit by a pitch and Riley Greene worked a one-out walk. Down to their final out, Lee smoked a ball into the gap in right-center, plating both runs and putting the Tigers ahead to stay. The rookie infielder finished the night 1-for-4 and is now hitting .255/.288/.392 with four homers and 17 RBI in 161 plate appearances on the season.