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Tigers manager on Sanchez: 'We still think there's a shot he can come back'

Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Tigers remain cautiously optimistic Anibal Sanchez will return before the end of the season, even if he's not so sure himself.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said the right-hander will seek a second opinion on the strained right pectoral muscle that's kept Sanchez sidelined since Aug. 8, according to MLive's James Schmehl.

"By no means has he been written off," Ausmus told MLB.com after Tuesday's 5-2 win over the New York Yankees. "This is not something that, at this point, we've considered the end of Anibal Sanchez's season. We still think there's a shot he can come back."

The Tigers can ill afford to lose Sanchez for an extended period of time with the club fighting to remain in the playoff hunt. 

Detroit has won three straight after dropping 12 of its previous 19, a skid that knocked the Tigers off their perch in the American League Central and grouped them into a congested wild-card race.

Sanchez was less optimistic than his manager, suggesting his regular season may be over after experiencing a setback during a throwing session Monday:

Especially with the situation we are [in] right now, of course I'm concerned. It depends on how fast I heal. It's nothing like they're going to say, 'OK, you're going to wait for two weeks, or one week.' It's how fast my body can heal up.

It's really hard to explain that kind of pain. It's something like when you got a needle inside you, and you try to move it. That's the pain, like that. It really hurt. It's nothing like what I felt when I had my shoulder or elbow issue before.

Sanchez was told the pain he's currently experiencing is a result of scar tissue. His recovery was expected to be three-to-four weeks from the date he suffered the injury, a timetable that appears increasingly unrealistic.

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