If Joel Zumaya’s outing Wednesday was partly a result of Zumaya becoming too confident, Friday was the outing that proves that even Zumaya can be hittable.

This wasn’t Zumaya struggling to find the strike zone. I’m not sure it was even Zumaya leaving pitches over the heart of the plate. If anything, Joe Mauer’s go-ahead hit should be more of a humbling experience than Wednesday. Zumaya made a pretty good pitch, and a batting champ found a way to drop it in for a hit. It wasn’t a mammoth home run like Ken Griffey Jr. last year; it was arguably tougher.

Zumaya knows he can’t simply overpower hitters. That’s why he has worked to mix in his curveball. But he’s learning now that good hitters can still sit on his fastball if the curveball isn’t going to be an out pitch. Young pitchers, as good as they are, go through that.

It’s tough being Zumaya right now, but it’s also tough being Andrew Miller, who was hit around for eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings Friday night for Class A Lakeland.

He’s out today with a bone bruise on his left foot from fouling a ball off of it Tuesday night. He stayed in the game that night, obviously, but it got worse. He was still limping as he walked through the clubhouse this afternoon, but he’s considered day-to-day.

Rabelo starts in his place to catch Robertson. That means the only Tigers starter he will not have caught yet this season is Chad Durbin, the guy he caught at Triple-A Toledo last year. In case you’re wondering, Neifi Perez is the emergency catcher, even though his only appearance behind the plate was in 1997.

Other than that, it’s pretty much the regular lineup:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Sheffield, DH
4. Ordonez, RF
5. Guillen, SS
6. Casey, 1B
7. Monroe, LF
8. Rabelo, C
9. Inge, 3B

Everyone in the bullpen is available.