The 29-year-old was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Friday afternoon to determine the severity of the injury.
“It is disappointing,” manager Terry Francona said. “We’ll get to the bottom of it and we’ll move on.”
He tossed four innings, allowing two runs in his first big league game since October 9, 2017. Aaron Civale will take Salazar’s place in the rotation and start Monday against Texas. Zach Plesac gets bumped back one day and will start Tuesday. They want to keep Civale on his normal schedule, which is why he’s going to pitch on Monday. He started one game for the Indians earlier this season, tossing six scoreless innings against the Tigers on June 22. The 24-year-old is 4-1 with a 2.13 ERA in eight starts for Triple-A Columbus.
The Indians also placed reliever Tyler Olson on the 10-day injured list with shingles. He’s been playing with it for nearly two months.
“I’ve heard people that have had them say that they can be really debilitating,” Francona said. “He’s been fighting his way through it. We’re going to let him take a deep breath and see if we can maybe get him treated more aggressively without the game hanging over his head.”
The Indians’ players know what the additions of Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes can do for their lineup. They feel like everyone in the order will challenge opposing pitchers.
The Indians optioned Greg Allen and Jake Bauers to Triple-A Columbus to make room for Reyes and Puig. Allen emerged in July, but he wouldn’t have played everyday for the Indians and that’s something the organization wants him to continue doing.
Bauers has had his struggles this year. He had 102 strikeouts on the season, which led the team.
“Jake was probably letting some of the external things get in the way,” Francona said. “I had a really good talk with him today and I told him, I said, ‘I know it’s a kick in the stomach but that doesn’t mean you’re not gonna be a good player.’ Ya know, we’ve sent guys down – Josey [Ramirez], [Corey] Kluber, we’ve had guys go down. I said, ‘Let this help you and not hurt you.‘”
The Indians traded for Bauers in the offseason hoping he could contribute in the outfield and eventually be their everyday first baseman. Carlos Santana has had a great season, but that doesn’t mean the 23-year-old isn’t going to be a part of the Indians’ future.
How he responds to this adversity will go a long way in determining how successful he can be in the big leagues.