Cleveland Indians News and Notes: Danny Salazar bounces back with fantastic start

Games like Sunday’s used to drive me crazy. I’d like to think it’s maturity that has eased my pain after a tough loss, but it’s very possible that the thousands of heartbreaking defeats from teams I love have just dulled my senses.

Rangers 2, Indians 1

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The good guys loaded the bases in the ninth inning, but Tyler Naquin and Abraham Almonte couldn’t get a run across against Texas closer Sam Dyson. With the loss, Indians are now 73-56 on the year.

Tribe News

Salazar’s improvement a silver lining in loss | Indians.com

The right-hander racked up 10 strikeouts in just 5 ¹⁄₃ innings on Sunday and was much sharper than in previous outings. From Jordan Bastian:

The right-hander was one of baseball's top starters in the first half, but he has dealt with health and consistency issues since the All-Star break. Against the Rangers, Salazar finally looked more like the high-caliber arm he has the ability to be for the Tribe.

"I thought it was significantly better than we've seen, which is really good," manager Terry Francona said. "It wasn't enough to win the game, but to see him make those strides was really good, because now we can hopefully get him on a roll."

Francona using DH starts to keep Napoli fresh | Indians.com

Napoli has now DH’d in 10 of his last 15 games.

Punchless Indians offense a concern | Cleveland.com

The Tribe has scored one run in six of their last seven games. That’s not good.

Around the League

• Carlos Beltran’s has an amazing new haircut that might have required a sharpie.
• Mark Trumbo is first to 40 home runs.
• Gerrit Cole has elbow pain. Not good for the Pirates.