Indians persevere after Salazar’s early exit

CLEVELAND — It had the makings of a disaster. Fresh off the disabled list, Danny Salazar could not find the strike zone. He walked Adam Eaton on five pitches to open Thursday’s game, and then issued another free pass to White Sox second baseman Tyler Saladino.

“He couldn’t really find the plate,” Indians manager Terry Francona said after his club pulled off a 5-4 walk-off win at Progressive Field. “That was probably almost our worst-case scenario.”

The good news was that Salazar felt healthy, and Cleveland overcame his struggles in a rousing victory. The troubling aspect of his return to the rotation was the fact that he looked more than a little rusty after two weeks down due to right elbow inflammation. Cleveland had a contingency plan in place — rookie starter Mike Clevinger was in the bullpen as insurance — but the team did not expect Salazar to go off the rails so swiftly.

Francona had to make a decision.

With a win potentially at stake in the first inning, Cleveland’s manager pulled the plug on Salazar’s outing. Even after the right-hander walked three and allowed a bases-clearing double to Justin Morneau, there was still ample time to salvage the situation. Led by an admirable four-plus-inning appearance by Clevinger, and powered by an offense that has featured fight all season long, the Tribe pieced together its sixth walk-off win of the year.

“It shows a lot of resiliency from us,” Indians reliever Dan Otero said. “When …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com