Anibal Sanchez exits Saturday start with a blister on his finger - MLB

Tigers hurler Anibal Sanchez left his start on Saturday against the Twins in the third inning due to a blister on his right middle finger, the Detroit Free Press reports. Sanchez had a 3-2 count on Twins second baseman Brian Dozier before departing. Jose Ortega took the mound in relief and finished the plate appearance by walking Dozier. The walk was charged to Sanchez.

Sanchez didn’t allow a hit to the Twins over 2 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out two.

The injury isn’t considered serious. Since the Tigers have off-days on Monday and Thursday, Drew Smyly could remain in the rotation while Sanchez’s spot in the rotation is skipped over, but that may not be necessary.

Update (7:00 PM): Sanchez does need a stint on the disabled list. The Tigers placed him on the 15-day disabled list and called up Justin Miller from Triple-A Toledo.

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Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Chicago White Sox on opening day.

Clemens made four appearances on last year’s KayRod Cast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. He will be stepping in on March 30 for David Cone, who will be doing the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants on YES Network.

“Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last year, so to speak, he’s in. He’s been engaged, knowledgeable and really present,” said ESPN Vice President of Production Phil Orlins. “You know, whatever past may be, he’s still tremendously engaged and he really brought that every time he was with us.”

Clemens was a seven-time Cy Young winner but his career after baseball has been tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. He is a Houston native and pitched for the Astros for three seasons.

Orlins said that with the rules changes and pitch clock, it is important to have a pitcher in the booth with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“We don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with a pitcher, but we certainly think that works. Throw in the added factor of rule changes and it is better to have a batter-pitcher perspective,” Orlins said.

Orlins did not say if this would open the door for future opportunities for Clemens as an ESPN analyst.