Indians outfielder Michael Brantley had a mostly uneventful day in his second rehab start with the RubberDucks on Sunday, his second appearance in the last three days.
Brantley played seven innings and went 0-for-3, hitting routine ground balls each time. On the third, he reached on an error and later scored. He didn’t see action defensively in left field.
“I felt OK,” Brantley said. “I would have liked to get a couple more hits, that’d be nice. But getting the repetition down is important.”
Brantley was originally expected to play on Saturday after going 0-for-4 Friday night, but the trainers pulled him from the lineup. He’s still waiting until he can play back-to-back days, a key milestone in his recovery.
“It wasn’t my decision,” Brantley said of not playing Saturday. “My decision was to tell them how I feel every day and go by them like an everyday process. I felt OK, we just skipped a day.”
Brantley, along with Indians manager Terry Francona and the club, have used the word “excited” for his progress in his third attempt to stick in the everyday lineup.
“[It’s] more how I’ve responded every day waking up,” Brantley said. “I think that’s one of the biggest things for recovery time. That’s one of the things I kept fighting with [the first two times]. Just to be able to play baseball every day is very important.”
Brantley will still likely have multiple rehab appearances to make before he can return to Cleveland. Moving forward, his schedule is unclear and will continue to be updated on a day-to-day basis.
For now, the wait for a key piece in the middle of the Indians’ lineup continues.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ