The Indians see the potential that Danny Salazar possesses in his right arm. That is why Cleveland pushed him swiftly up the organizational ladder last season, trusted him with a start in the American League Wild Card Game in the fall and handed him a rotation job this spring.
The possibilities that exist in Salazar’s future are why the Indians are willing to weather some growing pains in the present. Through three outings this season, the young right-hander has struggled with inconsistency. The problem arose again Thursday, when a meltdown in the fifth inning sent the Indians on their way to a 7-5 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park.
“We all see what Danny can do and we believe that he will do it,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “I think with youth, sometimes it doesn’t happen as fast. You want it to happen right now. He’ll be all right.”
Salazar was charged with the task of taking on Tigers ace Justin Verlander, who was outpitched by Cleveland’s 24-year-old right-hander for the first four innings. The Indians made Verlander work for every out, forced his pitch count up and sent him to the showers after five innings. Led by Michael Brantley, the Tribe’s offense did its part, coming through in a handful of key situations.
In the first four innings, Salazar relinquished one run on three hits, but his command was solid. He changed speeds on his pitches and he needed only 47 pitches to that point. Armed with a 3-1 lead in the fifth — courtesy of a two-run single from Brantley in the fifth inning — Salazar took the mound with the last three batters of Detroit’s order due up.
The situation was set up nicely for Salazar to push toward the win column.
“It was a big shutdown inning for us,” Francona said. “We get on the board, take the lead and they got the bottom of the lineup.”
Salazar’s unraveling began with a walk to Alex Avila, and it continued with a four-pitch free pass to Alex Gonzalez. Rather than take a moment to calm himself down, Salazar began to worry about his mechanics and started thinking about little things within his delivery that were possibly going awry.
“You give a walk and you start thinking,” Salazar said. “For me, I started putting too many things in my mind. Maybe I’m pulling a little bit. Maybe my arm is behind. I started thinking a little bit about those things. That’s when I lost control on every pitch.”
Two batters after the back-to-back walks, Salazar slipped into a 3-1 count against Ian Kinsler, who jumped on an elevated fastball. The ball carried out to left-center field for a two-run home run — the second blast of the season for Detroit’s second baseman — and gave the Tigers a 4-3 advantage. Detroit then loaded the bases again and plated one more run on a sacrifice fly from Austin Jackson.
“It’s not necessarily bad walking some of their hitters,” Francona said. “You’ve just got to walk the right ones and not turn the lineup over and get to the big boys. That really hurt us.”
The Tigers tacked on two more runs against Cleveland’s bullpen for insurance, sealing a split of the abbreviated two-game series in Detroit.
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