Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Reese Olson left his last start after six innings because of a sore right ring finger on May 17.

Just about 48 hours later, the Tigers placed him on the injured list May 19, retroactive to the day before with right finger inflammation.

Because of that, the club is calling up reliever Chase Lee and announced Jack Flaherty will start Thursday, May 22 against Cleveland.

While it’s never good news to take a pitcher out of the lineup, the Tigers are not overly concerned about this being a long-term issue.

For now, we know that Olson will miss his next start. As Hinch noted, if a pitcher is not going to make one of their regularly scheduled starts, it becomes hard to avoid an IL stint. And the Tigers don’t have an off day until May 29.

“Once we determined that Reese wasn’t going to make his next start, that created a whole lot of decision points for us, and we are right up against the game,” said Hinch Monday.

In the meantime, the Tigers are set to begin a three-day series in St. Louis Monday, May 19 and then travel home for a four-game series against Cleveland – the Giants arrive after that.

Without Olson, the Tigers are calling up Lee for some extra bullpen help. And because Olson will miss his May 22 start and Hinch doesn’t want to throw a bullpen game to open a four-game tilt with Cleveland, he’s pushing Jack Flaherty’s start from May 21 to May 22.

The Tigers will use a bullpen start May 21. Sean Guenther is starting May 19.