Spencer Turnbull will take on his former team while Phils will take on Tigers

Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Spencer Turnbull will have some extra motivation when he takes the mound Wednesday afternoon.

Turnbull will face his former team as Philadelphia faces the host Detroit Tigers in the deciding game of a three-match series.

“I’m excited,” Turnbull said. “I’ll try not to put too much pressure on one match or whatever. I don’t want to put much stock in a revenge tour or whatever. I’m sure I’ll have some extra emotions and adrenaline. I’ll try to enjoy it, but I’ll try to block out the noise.’

Before signing with the Phillies as a free agent in February, Turnbull played five seasons for Detroit (2018-21, 2023). He threw a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners on May 18, 2021, but his career was sidetracked by an injury shortly thereafter.

After the no-no, Turnbull started three more games, after which Tommy John surgery was required. The procedure kept him out for the rest of 2021, and he also missed the 2022 season.

When 2023 arrived, Turnbull returned, but he made seven ineffective starts for the Tigers and had two options to leave Triple-A Toledo due to injury, allowing him to gain more service time in the majors. He also suffered a neck injury that season and was not offered a contract until 2024.

“There are a lot of things that were out of my control, that were out of my control,” Turnbull said. “I didn’t really have a say in a lot of things that happened last year. All the drama or whatever it was, all the negative press and stuff like that, no one knows the real story.

“No one really knows what happened, but it certainly wasn’t the twist that maybe was told about me, but I try not to really worry about it. It is what it is.”

Turnbull has revived his career with the Phillies. He is 3-0 with a 2.63 ERA in 16 appearances, including six starts.

The Tigers had not officially announced a starter, but the expectation was that right-hander Keider Montero (0-1, 8.31 ERA) would be recalled from Toledo to pitch part of the game. He would be making his second career Major League appearance.

In his big league debut on May 29, Montero gave up four runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He made thirteen Triple-A starts this season, good for a 1-4 record and an ERA of 5.03.

“The stuff is really good across the board,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said of Montero. “The more opportunities we can give him to see this level, the better he will become. It’s the experience he needs.”

As Montero’s Triple-A numbers suggest, he is far from a finished product.

“One of the things he’s really worked on is how to attack left-handed hitters,” Hinch said. “He needs to integrate his changeup a little bit more. … His good innings are really good. He has misfires every now and then that gives him some (bad) innings.”

Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper will try to extend his hitting streak to 11 games on Wednesday. He hit a double and a homer on Tuesday, but the Tigers evened the three-game series with a 4-1 victory.

–Field-level media