CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Indians still don’t have a closer, by design.
For the foreseeable future, manager Terry Francona plans to employ a closer by committee approach in the ninth innings of games.
“Not just situationally, but also volume-wise with guys,” Francona said Saturday prior to game two against the Tigers this weekend. “We don’t want to overwork anybody. Again, with all the off days we’ve had there are certainly some guys that [are] underworked and I worry about that. I do think that if that’s our biggest problem we’re probably in pretty good shape in that those types of things have a way of working itself out.”
Friday night Emmanuel Clase slammed the door on Detroit to secure win No. 3 this season.
Nate Wittgren has the other save this season. James Karinchak will also get opportunities, depending on who is available, needs work or matches up best.
“I do like the idea of using guys when we think it fits the best and they seem to be doing fine with it,” Francona said.
Thanks to an 11-3 pounding of the Tigers, Francona didn't need one Saturday night.
On the job training – Amed Rosario is back in center field Saturday, a day after debuting there, but dropped from the leadoff spot to sixth in the lineup.
Francona is trying to get the former infielder converted outfielder as much playing time and experience as possible.
“That’s kind of what he’s used to. He’s not a bench player,” Francona said. “Being able to string some at bats together for him will really be good.”
Rosario made Francona a bit anxious on the first ball hit to him Friday night in the first inning by Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario.
Rosario initially froze before using his speed to chase down the ball in deep left center.
“There’s going to be nuances and intricacies of the position that only playing out there will get it done,” Francona said. “You can talk to guys about things but he’s going to have to live through some things.”
Flamethrower – Clase picked up his first save of the season Friday night with a pair of strikeouts.
“He loves to fill up the strike zone,” Francona said. “That’s a good thing.”
With a top speed of 101.3, Clase leads all of baseball with 29 pitches clocked at over 100 miles per hour this season and has a sizeable lead on St. Louis’ Jordan Hicks, who has done it 16 times.
“I love the way he attacks,” Francona said. “I think I made a comment in spring training [that] he may throw too many strikes. If that’s a problem, we can deal with that.”
“His future, and present, is really bright.”
Strong starts – Aaron Civale continued Cleveland’s starting pitching dominance by allowing just one run on three hits with six strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings Saturday night.
Through the first seven games of this season. Indians starters have registered a 2.60 ERA, allowing 13 earned runs on 27 hits in 45 innings of work combined with 49 strikeouts and 14 walks.
Opponents are batting just .173 (27-132) against the starting five.
Power surge – The Indians hit five home runs Saturday night and they are now 4-0 when leaving the yard at least twice in a game this season.
It marks the first time since 2009 that they have had two or more games with at least three home runs in the first seven games of the season.
Cleveland’s 14 home runs are third-most in baseball behind Houston (16) and Cincinnati (15) and it is the most home runs hit by an Indians team through the first seven games of a season since 1997 and 1995.
Big shots – The Indians didn’t have any problems to report regarding players and staff who elected to receive COVID-19 vaccines this week.
“I read where some teams had guys who were missing games, but we were okay,” Francona said.
Half received the shots on Tuesday and the other half on Thursday, their off days. They were administered at Progressive Field by Cleveland Clinic staff.
Up next – Series concludes Sunday afternoon: Logan Allen (0-1, 3.60) vs. José Ureña (0-1, 15.00) at 1:10 p.m.
