TORONTO: Indians manager Terry Francona had a busy night on Monday. If trying to get through Game 3 of the American League Championship Series effectively without a starting pitcher wasn’t like pulling teeth, Francona had that experience on his own just beforehand.
Only moments before the game began, as the stadium was filling and the energy building, Francona had a tooth veneer pop out of his mouth while he was chewing.
“That thing came off and I’m chewing and it felt crunchy,” Francona said. “I was like, ‘Uh oh.’ So, I undid my tobacco and there’s my tooth. So, I’m pissed now. I’m f****** hot.”
Francona gave his tooth to Dr. James Quinlan for safe keeping. He was able to find Francona a dentist late Monday night. So after an improbable Game 3 win and a mentally exhausting night of managing 8⅓ innings of relief to take a 3-0 series lead, Francona celebrated with a late-night trip to the dentist.
“I went from here to a dentist last night at 1 o’clock in the morning,” he said. “Some dentist met me downtown and put it back in. How about that? That’s unbelievable. I’m good to go.”
Francona did find some time for a joke when he met with the infielders as Trevor Bauer had his pinkie examined in the first inning.
“When I went to take Bauer out, I just happened to glance up and they had that 50/50 thing up on the scoreboard,” Francona said. “It was up to $82,000. I told Nap, I said, ‘Nap, we’ve got to get in on this.’ That’s why we were out there laughing.”
Francona also addressed a finger incident of his own after Game 3. In that same first inning, the TBS cameras appeared to catch Francona raising his middle finger. Francona says it wasn’t anything intentional. He’s been seen before scratching his face with his middle finger.
“No, I get a nervous habit,” he said. “I go like this all the time right here. If you look, there’s like five or six other pictures just like that. I don’t know why I don’t use my pointer finger. I don’t remember it even. No, I would never do that.”
A popped-out tooth veneer, a bleeding finger on a starting pitcher, an incidental middle finger and a late-night visit to the dentist. Just about anything is believable during this postseason run for the Indians.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians.