“We need to make sure (the jammed thumb) is good, because that can nag, and it affects his swing”. Donaldson, returning to the lineup after missing two games with a sprained thumb, added a two-out RBI single.
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Melvin Upton Jr. led off the third by homering off Indians starter Corey Kluber.
1B Edwin Encarnacion broke a 5-5 tie with a mammoth home run leading off the fifth inning on Saturday, a drive into the left field bleachers that was estimated at 435 feet, his 35th homer of the year. In 156.1 innings, Sanchez has posted a sub-3.00 ERA of 2.99 and now sits in fifth on FanGraphs’ leaderboard for American League pitcher WAR.
Mike Clevinger (2-1) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win, while Cody Allen worked the ninth for his 24th save.
The Indians begin an all-American League West Division road trip – Oakland and Texas – with a three-game series against the A’s that begins tonight at 10:05. “I don’t think there’s anyone else we’d rather have up in that situation”.
“Shout out to Canada for coming down and supporting us this weekend”, Stroman said. They went 8-3 to bolster their advantage to seven games over second-place Detroit.
Hopefully for Toronto fans’ sake, they will bring Sanchez back to the team to participate in the postseason.
Plate umpire Ramon De Jesus called time while Encarnacion was batting in the seventh. After a lengthy discussion, Goins was sent back to third and Clevinger struck out Encarnacion on the next pitch. “I just wanted to find out why he called it”. Gibbons didn’t think the sequence cost his team the game. “You can’t pick at that type of stuff”, he said.
Left-hander Aaron Loup was recalled Sunday from Triple-A Buffalo. If the Blue Jays remain competitive, they might have to consider skipping one or two more of Sanchez’s scheduled starts this season. His 156.1 innings are already a single-season career high and with a month of regular season play and at least a couple playoff starts in his future, speculation was that Toronto would start to lighten his workload either by skipping his spot or moving him to the bullpen.
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Carlos Carrasco (8-6, 3.34 ERA) opens the set for Cleveland, opposing RHP Andrew Triggs (0-1, 4.98), while Danny Salazar (11-4, 3.57) goes for the Indians on Tuesday (10:05 p.m.) against LHP Sean Manaea (4-8, 4.73).
