CLEVELAND – After a night in which he threw just over two innings in his shortest outing in the Majors, there seems to be some real concern about the health of Indians pitcher Danny Salazar.
The Tribe All-Star has had an awful stretch since the 4th of July, and it bottomed out on Monday, as he allowed six runs including three homers as the Indians were beat up by the Twins 12-5 at Progressive Field.
“He obviously doesn’t look like himself the last couple of games,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “We’re going to get him looked at tomorrow morning, mostly I hope for just his piece of mind.
“Last couple of outings, he hasn’t been himself.”
Salazar fell to 11-4 with the loss, but as Francona said, the pitcher has been out of sorts it seems the last month, a month that saw him in three home starts go 15.1 innings, allowing 13 runs, including four homers.
“It’s something in my elbow, I don’t know what it is, but we’ll find out tomorrow,” Salazar said. “It’s been there, it’s kind of like what we went through when we went to San Diego when I took a little break, it’s been there for awhile and now it’s getting worse.”
Salazar threw just 55 pitches on Monday night, but in the end allowed six runs on six hits with two walks, and clearly he wasn’t right in allowing three Twins homers in less than three innings.
“He doesn’t look like somebody that’s hurt to me, but again, your arms are pretty fragile,” Francona said.
The Indians pitcher says that the elbow issue is something that has been bothering him since before the All-Star break, and that he is anxious to see what is hindering him if anything following the MRI.
“I just want to know so I can find out what’s happening there,” Salazar said of the elbow issue.
Salazar is not stranger to arm issues, he had Tommy John surgery back on August 1st of 2010, so he knows the type of feeling that goes along with that surgery.
For now, he says he’s not feeling the same pain he felt then, and that his elbow ligaments are not the issue.
“Everything in that part of the elbow is fine, totally fine,” Salazar said.
The big issue for Salazar, as he put it, appears to be after he pitches as well as the next day, as he tries to find a balance so the elbow does not act up on him.
“The day after I pitch sometimes I feel sore, so sometimes I play catch, sometimes I don’t, but by the time I have to pitch on that fifth day I feel pretty good,” Salazar said.
The Indians will make sure to use the same caution they always have with Salazar, they have already curtailed his days to make sure he gets some extra rest, but at the same time he’s a big part of the staff, and the team needs him as now their lead in the AL Central has been cut to four games.
The team needs to make sure that Salazar can go the last two months of the season and be as healthy as possible. Right now the main concern is making sure he’s at or close to 100 percent, and not putting him in harms way if he is not.
“I think we always do the right thing, that’s why we are going to get him looked at,” Francona said.
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