After missing nearly three weeks in his second stint on the disabled list with a costochondral strain, the truest test of Doug Fister’s health was going to be how he felt a day after his first start back from the disabled list.

Sunday morning, he felt fine.

“He feels great and that’s a big plus for us. That’s a load off my mind,” said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who’d admitted he might not sleep well, wondering about it. “I didn’t let it ruin my night, but I was thinking about it. You just don’t know. Who knows. The last time he felt good the first time out and then the couple starts after that, it wasn’t.”

That was just the first step.

Later, the team announced Alex Avila (hamstring) was headed to Toledo to start an injury rehabilitation stint, and could be back as soon as Thursday.

“We actually had a pretty good day. Fister came in feeling great, that was the first best news of the day. Then Alex going out, that was probably the second best. Then the job that (Max) Scherzer and Quintin (Berry) did, everybody did today. That was probably the third best news of the day,” Leyland said after the team's 5-0 win over the Rockies, highlighted by eight shutout innings from Scherzer and a 5-for-5 day by Berry. 

“We’ll see. Dirksy’s (Andy Dirks) gonna be a while yet. That gives us some flexibility to play Quintin in left and DH Delmon (Young), play (Ryan) Raburn against some left-handers. It gives us a little different dimension. Trust me when I tell you, we'll have the best team on the field.”