TORONTO: Trevor Bauer’s first attempt to pitch with his lacerated pinkie finger didn’t go so well. The Indians are hoping he’ll have a second try, and that it’ll last a bit longer.
Bauer was taken out of Game 3 in the first inning when his gruesome-looking pinkie began dripping blood. Bauer’s jersey, pants and cleats all had blood on them, as did the mound.
The Indians had Dr. Tom Graham fly to Toronto to take a look at Bauer’s finger, knowing he’ll likely need at least a couple of days before it’s possible he could try to pitch again.
“Yeah, [we’ll] see how it heals,” manager Terry Francona said. “His thought was that he didn’t put anymore stitches in there. He thought it really was healing pretty well, considering all it had been through for the last three or four days.
“He thought with time it’s going to continue to get better. … That’s the hard part right now is trying to — obviously he needs to heal. But he can’t just not throw.”
Without Bauer, the Indians have two experienced starting pitchers who are still healthy and lengthened out on the roster, that being Corey Kluber and Josh Tomlin. Ryan Merritt, the Game 5 rookie starter, is the only other option.
Underdogs
The Indians have played with the underdog label for the last several weeks, surprising most of the baseball world at every turn.
Francona has never put much stock into a rah-rah type of message in baseball as it occurs in other sports, especially football. But the Indians have seemingly fed off every bit of it, so it certainly hasn’t hurt.
“You know what? I think I always feel like if we can use something to our advantage we certainly do,” Francona said. “I think every team does that. I kind of laugh — a lot of times you’ll turn on the TV and you’ll hear usually a football player right after the game, they’re all jazzed up, ‘We proved to the whole world.’
“I guess what I’m saying is if that helps you, good. I think what’s important is how we feel in the clubhouse, our expectations of ourself are what matter. That way regardless of what the outside expectations are it doesn’t enter into our thinking because what’s truly important is how we feel.”
Fall Classic
A “very limited” number of tickets to any potential Indians World Series games at Progressive Field go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m.
These tickets, among the last available without going through a secondary service, are available to the full public. They will be available online only at indians.com/postseason.
The Indians are encouraging fans to access that site directly at 10 a.m. because of the high demand. Only the ticket fees are nonrefundable. Any unplayed games will be refunded.
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