CLEVELAND: Yan Gomes hasn’t had a great start to the 2016 season at the plate, but he now owns a new pair of glasses and a game-winning hit.
The Indians hope it’s enough to jump-start one of the leaders in the clubhouse and a much-needed bat in the lineup.
Gomes has been productive, as his 26 RBI this year lead all American League catchers. But he’s also hitting just .176 and hasn’t been able to string together a couple of quality games to get anywhere near his normal averages.
This week, he began wearing glasses behind the plate and while he’s hitting, which replaced the contacts he had been wearing.
“It’s been something that I’ve been working on [since] spring training,” Gomes said. “I’ve tried contacts and some dirt or something got in my eye and I can’t get used to them. So I got the glasses. They finally came in. … Really, [the glasses] didn’t bother me at all, other than sometimes in the dugout, I sweat a little bit and they fogged up. It’s just like wearing sunglasses or anything like that. It’s just an adjustment period.”
As Indians manager Terry Francona has put it, Gomes has been “wearing” his frustration. After Francona spoke with reporters following the Indians’ 5-4 walk-off win on Gomes’ single Wednesday, he gave the microphone to Gomes and said, “Enjoy it.”
“Oh, it was so good,” Francona said. “Obviously, it was good for us, but it’s so good for him. … I think that will do Gomer a world of good. It didn’t hurt us, either.”
Just before Gomes’ game-winner, Lonnie Chisenhall and Mike Napoli were discussing in the dugout that Gomes would be the guy to end it. He did, and ended up on the bottom of the dog pile at first base.
“If we wanted anyone to do it, it was [Gomes],” Napoli said. “This game is tough sometimes. He’s struggling a little bit, but he’s in there working every day. We all see that. He’s a competitive person. He wants to do good. But for that to happen for him tonight and get us the big win after dropping a couple, it’s huge in both ways — for him and for us.”
Napoli brings cool moments
A Youngstown woman, Kat Heintzelman, showed up to Monday’s game with a sign stating that she’d be starting chemotherapy the next day and asking Napoli for a hug and a homer.
Napoli briefly met with her, completing the first part of her request. Then, he answered the second, clubbing a solo home run in the sixth inning.
Heintzelman came back to Wednesday’s game, after her first round of chemo. And, once again, Napoli hit a home run, this time a two-run shot in the first inning.
“Yeah, it was pretty cool,” Napoli said. “I got to talk to her for a little bit. She started chemo. We just talked about how awesome it worked out. It was a cool moment.”
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians.