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Tribe notes: Season ends early for Gomez, Donald

CLEVELAND — The Indians entered Monday with six more games left on the schedule, but the season is over for two of their players — start­ing pitcher Jeanmar Gomez and sec­ond baseman Jason Donald.

Gomez

Gomez

Donald

Donald

Gomez has officially been shut down after reaching his innings limit, while Donald is expected to follow suit, still feeling the effects of a bruised tendon in his right index fin­ger.

Gomez, 22, joined the rotation in August, making 11 starts for the Indi­ans and going 4-5 with a 4.68 ERA. He has pitched a combined 173 2 / 3 innings between Cleveland and Triple-A Columbus, with the Indians not wanting him to pass the 175-inning mark.

“We’re very happy with the progress he’s made,” Indians man­ager Manny Acta said. “We weren’t even thinking about this kid coming up to the big leagues. He was pressed into duties. He was impressive. We feel he’s still projectable. We think he will gain velocity once his body fills out. He needs to continue to work on his secondary pitches.”

Donald, 25, has been sidelined since Sept. 11 after being hit by a pitch during a bunt attempt.

“I can’t see him playing,” Acta said. “He still has some swelling on his fin­ger.”

Donald was promoted from Columbus in May when shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera went on the dis­abled list with a fractured forearm. He batted .253 with four home runs and 24 RBIs in 88 games for the Indi­ans.

Acquired in a trade with the Phillies last year for Cliff Lee, Donald committed 12 errors.

“I thought he was thrown into the fire and he kept his head above water,” Acta said. “Our plan in spring training was to keep him at Triple-A the whole season. I really like the way he goes about his business.”

Back in the fold

Closer Chris Perez returned to the Indians bullpen after leaving the team Friday for Tampa, Fla., and the birth of his son.

Meeting of minds

Acta will hold individual meetings with each player over the final week of the regular season.

“It’s to assess the year and how guys feel about how things went and what are the plans for the offseason and next year,” Acta said.

Roundin’ third

The Indians entered Monday having equaled the 65 wins they had last season.

◾ Michael Brantley’s pinch-hit double, which drove in the game-winning runs in the eighth inning Sunday, was the first game-winning RBI from a Cleveland pinch hitter since Jamey Carroll in 2008.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.



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