Tigers injury updates: Top prospect to 7-day IL, Alex Lange out for the season

When Jace Jung was scratched from the Toledo Mud Hens' lineup ahead of their game on Thursday, it quickly set off a speculative firestorm online that peddled unsourced rumors that Jung might be getting the call up to the majors. It could've made sense; the Tigers desperately need a spark as they backslid through four straight series losses and one sweep, and Jung has been hitting well in Triple-A while working on a lot of weaker aspects of his game.

Reporters at Comerica quickly put those rumors to rest, though, and confirmed that "no new faces" were present at the ballpark. Later, some eagle-eyed writers/podcasters noticed a switch on Jung's player page: he was added to the Mud Hens' 7-day IL on Thursday.

The Tigers shared that the cause for the transfer is right wrist soreness. While it's seemed unlikely Jung will get a call up anytime soon given that he's only played 64 games in Triple-A so far, this certainly throws a wrench into the gears of any long-term plans the Tigers had with him in the picture.

Tigers injury updates: Jace Jung goes to 7-day IL, reliever Alex Lange out for the season

In more bad injury news, reliever Alex Lange told reporters in Detroit that he would be out for the rest of the season after being pulled from an appearance with what has been diagnosed as a lat strain. The Tigers announced on Tuesday that he would need to undergo surgery to treat the issue and had already been scheduled to do so early next week. The Athletics' Cody Stavenhagen noted that Lange was emotional when he shared the news, which makes sense given the rough year he's been having.

Lange was having a great time in the majors through April and into early May, but as the Tigers got deeper into the month, he started to shake. His ERA rose from 0.64 to 4.34 over five appearances, and he was demoted to Triple-A the day after his last big league outing.

He told reporters he was focused on getting back to pitching next season, but it's a huge blow for a reliever who's already had his fair share of lows this year.