CLEVELAND — The Indians lost a game, a starting pitcher and a starting catcher Thursday night at Progressive Field. Talk about a terrible trifecta.
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Dropping the series finale in embarrassing fashion to the Yankees, 11-4, Cleveland also saw injuries strike right-hander Mitch Talbot and Carlos Santana, both players leaving the game prematurely.
The lopsided score wasn’t the only thing that left the Indians red-faced. With their bullpen depleted, Cleveland had to call on infielder Andy Marte to pitch the ninth inning.
He retired the side, looking more effective than some of the other pitchers that took the mound for the Indians.
“That’s not something I like to do,” said manager Manny Acta of employing a position player to pitch. “I did it because we had to. That looks like a mockery of the game, but we had no choice. Some people find it funny but it’s not funny to me.”
Acta was put in the position thanks to a 2 2/3-inning effort from Fausto Carmona on Wednesday, followed by two innings from Talbot.
Talbot departed in the third inning with a midback strain, while Santana was removed to start the eighth after being hit on the left knee by a low pitch from Indians reliever Joe Smith in the seventh.
The prognosis on Santana, who finished the seventh inning, is more positive.
“Santana’s going to be OK,” Acta said. “We took him out as a precaution. He stayed on the bench and should be ready to go (tonight).”
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Talbot will not make the trip to Toronto for the Indians’ series against the Blue Jays, which begins tonight. He will remain in Cleveland and undergo an MRI today.
Acta said Talbot began feeling tightness in his back after the first inning. The righthander tried to pitch through it but after allowing a leadoff single in the third to Colin Curtis and throwing two balls to the following batter, Derek Jeter, he was removed.
Even with Talbot out of the game early, the Indians were still in it until the Yankees erupted for seven runs in the seventh inning off a Cleveland bullpen that had been extremely stingy as of late.
The disastrous seventh paved the way for Marte to take the mound in the final inning.
Marte threw three straight balls to the first batter he faced, Robinson Cano, before inducing the Yankees’ second baseman to ground out. He then struck out Nick Swisher for the second out.
“I now have a new most embarrassing moment,” Swisher said. “He had some run on his ball. I was sitting on the breaking ball and he gassed me upstairs.”
Marte retired Brett Gardner on a lineout to third for the final out, pumping his fist after Jayson Nix made the catch.
“Everybody was laughing,” Marte said. “(Acta) told me the inning before. I said, ‘Are you sure?’” “We talked to Marte and told him to just throw strikes,” Acta said. “He came up with a pretty good example of what you can accomplish by throwing strikes.”
Marte was the first position player to pitch for the Indians since catcher Tim Laker on April 20, 2004.
The Indians weren’t able to win the series against the best team in baseball, losing three of four games, but they did keep Alex Rodriguez from hitting his 600th home run. Rodriguez, who went hitless in the first two games, went 1-for-4 with three RBIs in the finale. He struck out in his final at-bat off Jess Todd in the eighth.
The Indians aren’t only dealing with injuries to Talbot and Santana. Designated hitter Travis Hafner was scratched from the lineup with right shoulder soreness, the same ailment that has plagued Hafner for close to three seasons.
“He wasn’t able to play,” Acta said. “His shoulder was bothering him and he’s dayto- day. We can’t afford to have our hands tied. That’s something we’re going to have to evaluate.”
Cleveland is expected to make a move today for bullpen assistance.
One of the largest crowds of the season — 34,455 — took in the series finale, with the four-game attendance totaling 112,060.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.
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