Cleveland Indians lose twice as Derek Lowe and David Huff exit with injuries
Published: Thursday, March 29, 2012, 7:52 PM Updated: Thursday, March 29, 2012, 8:01 PM

By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Indians did something different Thursday. Instead of losing once, they lost twice. They also watched starting pitchers Derek Lowe and David Huff leave their assignments with injuries.
In a split-squad day, the Indians lost 6-3 to Colorado at Goodyear Ballpark and 5-4 to Arizona at Salt River Field at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Lowe, facing the Rockies, left after three innings with back spasms. Huff, facing the Diamondbacks, left after straining his right hamstring trying to field a grounder by the first batter he faced.
Manager Manny Acta said Lowe's injury was not believed to be serious.

"If this was the regular season, he could have kept pitching," said Acta. "But this is not the time to pushing through stuff like that."

Lowe is scheduled to be the Indians third starter behind Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez and in front of Josh Tomlin when the regular season opens April 5 at Progressive Field. He's scheduled to make one more exhibition start Tuesday when the Indians play their new Class A team in Zebulon, N.C. after breaking camp.

This is Lowe's 15th season in the big leagues and he's never been on the disabled list.

Huff's injury takes him out of the competition for the fifth spot in the starting rotation with Kevin Slowey and Jeanmar Gomez. He could open the season on the disabled list.

Beau Mills started at first base against the Rockies because Russ Canzler left camp to be with his wife who is about to give birth. Mills, the Indians No. 1 pick in 2007, homered in the third and ninth inning. He also walked and doubled.

"That's how things work, one guy goes home because his wife is giving birth and another guy comes in and hits two bombs in spring training," said Acta. "That was nice to see."

The Indians, however, did little else offensively. They've lost eight straight and nine of their last 10 Cactus League games. Overall, they're in last place in the Cactus League at 6-19-3.

The Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the first as Eric Young hit a leadoff triple and scored on Marco Scutaro's sacrifice fly. Troy Tulowitzki hit a two-out double and scored on Ramon Hernandez's single.

Mills and Michael Brantley tied the score with homers off Juan Nicasio in the third. The Rockies put the game away with three runs in the fourth off Chris Seddon. Chris Nelson had the big hit of the inning, a two-run double.

The Diamondbacks led 5-1 after three innings. Miguel Montero hit a three-run homer off Chris Ray in the third. Ray allowed three runs on two hits in two innings.

Jason Donald went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two runs. He doubled in the seventh and scored on Casey Kotchman's RBI single to make it 5-4. Bryan Price, who relieved the injured Huff, took the loss.

2 losses put the record at 6-19, which I am glad doesn't count.

Matt Underwood:
Jeanmar Gomez left his start today in Goodyear after apparently injuring his right hip stretching to field a throw at first base. More to come as info becomes available.

That makes 3 starters who left games with injuries in 2 days. I believe that ties a major league record.

I do recall about a decade ago during the REAL SEASON when we lost two or three starters in a week.

Gomez exits outing with hip injury
By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | 03/30/12 6:02 PM ET
Comments (12)printe-mail

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Jeanmar Gomez took the mound on Friday at Goodyear Ballpark as the favorite to win the Indians' fifth-starter job. He walked off the hill in the fourth inning against the Reds with his status suddenly up in the air.

Gomez injured his hip while stretching at first base to catch a throw from shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera on a double play in the fourth inning. The Cleveland right-hander worked through some warmup throws, and then threw two pitches to the next batter, Chris Heisey, before being pulled from the game.

With less than a week left until Opening Day, Gomez was in a direct competition with right-hander Kevin Slowey for the lone vacancy in the Tribe's rotation. While Gomez got the start in Cleveland's Cactus League contest against the Reds, Slowey was working through an outing in Minor League camp.

Prior to the game, Indians manager Manny Acta indicated that the ballclub would likely reveal its choice for the fifth-starter job on Saturday. Left-hander David Huff -- also a candidate earlier this spring -- was taken out of the mix on Thursday, when he injured his right hamstring during his start against the D-backs.

This spring, the 24-year-old Gomez has fashioned a 1.37 ERA in six appearances, including Friday's abbreviated start. Prior to leaving with the injury, Gomez had logged 3 2/3 scoreless innings and ended with four strikeouts, two walks and two hits allowed. The righty gave up three runs in 19 2/3 innings on the spring.

Gomez has spent parts of the past two seasons with the Indians, going 9-8 with a 4.58 ERA in 22 big league appearances. Last year, he worked in 11 games for Cleveland, posting a 5-3 record to go along with a 4.47 ERA. Gomez spent the bulk of 2011 with Triple-A Columbus, where he went 10-7 with a 2.55 ERA in 21 outings.

Santana, Cabrera homer in Indians' loss
By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | 03/30/12 7:08 PM ET

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Reds slugged three home runs during a five-run bottom of the eighth inning to take a 6-5 win from the Indians on Friday afternoon.

Facing Indians reliever Dan Wheeler, who was informed earlier in the day that he made the 25-man roster, Todd Frazier started the rally with a solo home run to right field -- his club-leading fifth of the spring. The next batter, Juan Francisco, made it back-to-back long balls with a homer to right field -- his fourth during camp.

After Willie Harris scored on Ryan Ludwick's RBI double to left field, Minor Leaguer Ryan LaMarre put Cincinnati ahead with a two-run home run to left field.


Reds starter Johnny Cueto gave up two homers on what was otherwise a fine afternoon for the Cincinnati right-hander. Cueto gave up two runs and four hits over six innings with one walk, one hit batter and three strikeouts.

"I am ready for Opening Day," said Cueto, who will start on April 5 against the Marlins.

Indians starter Jeanmar Lopez, who is battling for the fifth spot in the rotation against Kevin Slowey, pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings with two hits, two walks and four strikeouts. In the fourth inning, Gomez injured his hip covering first base when Jay Bruce grounded into a double play.

Cleveland trainer Lonnie Soloff confirmed that Gomez exited the game with a hip injury.

The Indians added three runs in the top of the seventh inning, with the big hit being Jose Lopez's two-run double to the wall in left-center field.

Cincinnati scored its first run in the fifth inning after Devin Mesoraco hit a leadoff double to left-center field. Mesoraco advanced to third on a Cueto sacrifice and scored on Paul Janish's RBI groundout to the shortstop.

Up next: Recently acquired right-hander Jairo Asencio is scheduled to make his Cactus League debut for the Indians on Saturday, when Cleveland hosts the Rangers in a 10:05 p.m. ET contest at Goodyear Ballpark. The Tribe got Asencio from the Braves on Thursday and plans on throwing him into the mix for the lone vacancy in the bullpen. Opening Day starter Justin Masterson is slated to start for the Indians.

I used to think Eric Wedge ran a piss poor spring training and his teams usually were not ready to start the season.

2012 under Acta is the worst I've seen.

The stink coming from Goodyear is palpable.

seagull wrote:
The stink coming from Goodyear is palpable.

I grew up within a few miles of a Goodyear factory in Akron. And a Firestone factory. And a General Tire factory. And a few other tire manufacturers in my bedroom community to The Rubber Capital of The World.




Those tire companies did not produce a pleasant morning aroma most mornings, Goodyear included.

Blue collar, for sure.

I preferred the mornings the winds blew from a different direction and brought the aroma of fresh baked bread, and sometimes Cinnamon Rolls, from the Lawson's plant.


I haven't monitored Manny Acta's spring training methods, but I do believe and hope our won-loss record in AZ will not be a true predictor of the 2012 season.

One of the readers' comments on the MLB site, on answering the oft-asked "Why Wheeler?":

"Here is the deal. Every team needs a relief pitcher or two to take a beating when the other team is red hot and already knocked the starter out. So, we need a guy with experience getting beat up and shaking it off. This saves your pen for a game we can actually win. The Durbins of the world fill that role. You can't put some rook in there and ruin him. Herman would follow Durbin in those situations but when the pen would get thin and the game is still in reach Herman would get the call before Durbin. You need a new Durbin every year or your fans will kill you if you re-run him the next year. In comes Wheeler. New pin cushion. If all goes well the batters will be tired tomorrow from running the bases all night. : )"

Played 30 Won 6

Cunningham / Spillborghs / Crowe / Lopez / ...

Somebody please remind me who played in RF last year who wasn't from Asia? Was it Travis Buck?

I guess it would be swell if Choo stayed healthy and productive for 162 games in right, but if he gets the occasional day off, who is out there instead? Maybe this is why Cunningham was kept--he can play right? Or rather, Can he play right?

I'd forgotten about Buck already. I was trying to remember who are great OFs were last year with Grady and Choo and sometimes Brantley out. All I could recall were Duncan and Carrera.

Tom Hamilton was really laying it Jiminez after yet another really miserable start today; lots of walks, hit a batter, a couple homers. He's a complete wreck.

Ubaldo Jimenez drills Troy Tulowitzki as bad blood with former team turns physical

By Kevin Kaduk

(AP) The ugly and tense divorce between Ubaldo Jimenez and the Colorado Rockies became downright dangerous on Sunday afternoon.

Facing his former team for the first time since he was traded last season, the Cleveland Indians pitcher drilled shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in the elbow during the All-Star's first at-bat. He then charged Tulowitzki, causing the benches to clear.

Tulowitzki was sent to the hospital for X-rays (take a sigh of relief, fantasy owners, they turned out negative) while Jimenez was somehow allowed to remain in the game. The righthander was tagged for six runs over 4 1/3 innings of work and exited the game to a shower of boos from the pro-Rockies crowd at Salt River Fields. (Sunday's game wasn't broadcast, so there's no video of the incident unless someone posts fan-shot material on YouTube.)

It probably comes as no surprise that Jimenez later blamed the incident on bad command and said he charged because Tulo had been yelling names at him from the batter's box. ("I mean I am a man," Jimenez told reporters. "He was calling me a chicken.'')

The "just an accident" claims, however, are a tough story for us to swallow after Jimenez spent most of his spring grinding a giant axe against the Rockies. Colorado starter Jeremy Guthrie said there was no way the pitch could be interpreted any other way than intentional.

Troy Renck of the Denver Post sums up the beef that led to the plunking:

Jimenez has expressed his anger toward the Rockies this spring, admitting that he felt underappreciated last season because he was not awarded a contract extension like Tulowitzki (seven years, $134.5 million) and Carlos Gonzalez (seven years, $80 milllion). He told CBS Sportsline a few weeks ago that being in Cleveland was like "heaven."

Tulowitzki responded in The Denver Post 10 days ago, saying, "If someone doesn't want to be here we always say, 'Please, go up to the manager and tell him you want to leave or that you don't think this is the best place for you.' That was kind of the case with him."

Colorado manager Jim Tracy said on Saturday that he hoped the issue had been "put to bed," but it's clear from Sunday's game that it was nowhere close to being settled.

It's really a shame, too, because Jimenez has gone from being a great story — he started the All-Star Game for the National League in 2010 — to a well-earned reputation as one of baseball's biggest malcontents. Just because Jimenez isn't happy he prematurely opted for the security of a four-year contract (with two club option years for 2013-14) doesn't mean he can take out his frustration on one of the game's brightest stars. The Rockies reportedly will ask the commissioner's office to review the incident and I think Jimenez should receive a loud and clear message through a suspension. Enough is enough and if Jimenez is really the man he claims to be, he'll move on and show some contrition.

I like a starting pitcher who has attitude.

Jimenez might have shaken this team to winning ways.