Cleveland Indians Roundup: Michael Brantley to Disabled List; Indians Lose

The bad news keeps coming for the Cleveland Indians

The Michael Brantley saga took another turn for the worse when the Cleveland Indians placed him on the disabled list yesterday. Brantley played in just 11 games after returning from a shoulder injury, and he lacked his usual gusto in that time. Across 43 plate appearances, but posted a meager weighted runs created plus of 47 with an abnormally high strikeout rate. 

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Also included in that transaction was the promotion of veteran utility man Michael Martinez. Martinez, 33, surfaced with the Indians last year and posted a meager .267/.290/.333 slash line with decent defense. The Cleveland Indians also moved Roberto Perez from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day version. Perez fractured his finger earlier this month, and was expected to miss 8-12 weeks at the time.

In another unfortunate twist of fate, the Cleveland Indians lost to the Minnesota Twins 6-3. The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak for the last-place Twins, and it also lowered the Indians to 17-16 on the season. Fortunately the Chicago White Sox also lost, so the Tribe stayed five games out of first place.

With this loss, Corey Kluber continued a disappointing season. The former Cy Young Award winner posted a 4.14 earned run average across his first seven games, but fielder independent metrics liked his work much better. Despite allowing 21 runs in 45.2 innings of work, he still struck out 45 batters while only walking 10.

More from around the American League Central:

Cleveland Indians News: Michael Brantley to Disabled List – Wahoo’s on First

Cleveland Indians Fall to Cellar Dwelling Minnesota Twins 6-3 – Wahoo’s on First

Detroit Tigers: Steven Moya Makes Anthony Gose Expendable – Motor City Bengals

Kansas City Royals: Why Trading for Nick Markakis Makes Sense – Kings of Kauffman

Cleveland Indians Have Terry Talkin’ How Cheap Pitching Gives Tribe Lots of Options – Terry Pluto – Cleveland.com