Avila's An Immovable Object Behind The Plate

It doesn't look like Alex Avila is going to get a day off until rosters expand in September.

Avila took a foul ball off the mask in the second inning of Detroit's 5-2 victory at Tampa Bay that sent him spinning into the dirt. That likely caused questions about what might happen if Avila had to come out of the game.

But Avila got up, stayed in the game and later threw out a runner trying to steal second base.

"I have been lucky, though," Avila said, "no serious injuries have come from that."

What would have happened had Avila had to leave the game is that newly-returned Brandon Inge would have come in to catch his first game since 2008.

"He's not going to start a game catching," Jim Leyland said of Inge supplanting Don Kelly as the backup catcher. "But that gives us more flexibility and less worries."

Avila, working his 16th straight game, hit his 15th home run with a man on in the second inning and for the majority of the game, it looked like that would be enough to give Justin Verlander his 19th victory.

Avila wound up 1-for-3, knocking his August batting average down to .431 with five home runs and 14 RBI. He leads the majors in batting average for the month, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

"I'm probably going to catch Alex, I'm not sure," Jim Leyland said with a straight face before finishing up with a smile.

"I caught six innings in one game and couldn't even walk the next day," Don Kelly said. "He continues to catch and get big hits at the same time."

As for when Avila's next missed game will come, Leyland couldn't say.

"There's no timetable," Leyland said. "At this particular time, I don't have an answer."

Detroit has a lot of catching prospects in the minors -- all drafted in the last two years. Veteran Omir Santos will likely get the call but the hope is that Victor Martinez will be sufficiently healthy by early September to give Avila a break.

"The plan most likely is to have Santos, but he's been hurt two or three times in other situations," Leyland said. "Is that the plan? Yes. In talking to (GM) Dave (Dombrowski), it looks like what we're talking about."

As for time off or rest, Avila has that old-time throwback attitude.

"You're going to be tired after games at this point of the season whether you're a catcher, position player or pitcher," Avila said. "Being tired in the middle of a pennant race is not an excuse."

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