Gomes was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Monday with an AC joint separation in his shoulder.
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Perez and Chris Gimenez will handle the catching duties with Gomes on the disabled list.
Gomes’ injury occurred in the fifth inning of yesterday’s win over the Twins when Gomes was tagged mid-stride and ended up landing on first base awkwardly, then tumbling directly onto his shoulder. “I think that is what [trainer] James [Quinlan] thought, but you’ve got to have the doctors look at it”. The 28-year-old had been struggling at the plate, batting just.165 with eight homers and 32 RBIs in 71 games.
On the Indians’ first home series of the 2015 season, Gomes was attempting to turn a double play to end the ninth inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers, but base runner Rajai Davis, now an Indians teammate, slid into his right leg and that crumpled the catcher in a heap at home plate. Perez has been out with a broken right thumb since he injured it April 30 and underwent surgery on May 6.
“It’s not good losing your catcher, but thankfully we have somebody like Roberto”, Francona said. “In a ideal world, he could have played a little bit more, but he’s been out to nine (innings), but we’re not going to play him three or four in a row, that’s for sure”.
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Meanwhile, the Tribe also announced that they have recalled lefty Lyle Crockett from Triple-A Columbus and sent righty Cody Anderson to the same club. The time away could help him clear his mind of things so that he can potentially return in time to help the team make its first playoff appearance since 2013.
