Salazar set for 1st Tribe start in almost 2 years

CLEVELAND -- The day has finally come. Danny Salazar is back in an Indians uniform.

Since January 2018, the right-hander has been stuck at the club’s Spring Training facility in Goodyear, Ariz., rehabbing his shoulder. But that long road has come to its end, as Salazar is slated to start Thursday’s series finale against the Astros. He is set to be activated off the injured list on Wednesday.

“To be honest with you, everybody grinds it out to get to this point,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “It was hard because we missed Danny. He kept getting to points where he didn’t feel like he could push through, and he was finally able to. So hopefully, he comes back and really helps us, because our medical people have spent a lot of sweat and work with Danny to try and get him back to help us.”

Salazar last pitched for the Indians in the postseason on Oct. 9, 2017, against the Yankees. His last start was that year toward the end of the regular season on Sept. 27.

Salazar is currently stretched out to approximately 70 pitches, which would seem to hinder him slightly as a starter. So Francona’s plan is to have him start on Thursday and use him like an opener, going as long as he can. If his outing is short, Adam Plutko will be ready to go.

“We certainly hope it’s not one inning, that would be not good,” Francona said. “So we’ll kind of build, hopefully build into the game and build into the season. … If Danny goes far enough into the game, we’ll see what the score is and we’ll adjust, but the idea is to have Plutko ready if it’s an earlier exit rather than late.”

Salazar started his rehab clock in Arizona at the end of June, pitching in two games in the desert before being transferred to Double-A Akron. He made two appearances with the RubberDucks and moved to Triple-A Columbus. In his most recent outing on Saturday for the Clippers, Salazar went four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out five on 69 pitches.

“The last couple [reports] have been pretty good,” Francona said. “He’s not throwing the velocity with which he did two years ago, but he’s had a good breaking ball and a good split-change and I think he sat at 92 [mph]-ish. The reports were generally pretty good. I think the biggest thing was that Danny felt really good and felt that he was ready to pitch. That’s probably the biggest thing.”

Kluber closing in on rehab assignment

Corey Kluber (right forearm fracture) simulated a few innings in his bullpen session on Tuesday, and the righty will pitch a simulated game on Saturday. If that goes well, Francona said the next step could be beginning a Minor League rehab assignment.

“[He’ll face] hitters from either Lake County or Mahoning [Valley],” Francona said of the simulated game on Saturday. “We’re trying to set that up. Just would prefer him not to face our guys.”

Injury report

Dan Otero (right shoulder): Otero pitched in back-to-back Minor League games last week on Tuesday and Wednesday but didn’t bounce back as well as he would’ve liked. After taking a few days off, Otero felt better on Tuesday, and he’ll start ramping up his throwing program again this week. He’ll throw a bullpen session, and the Indians will decide his next step if that goes smoothly.

Bradley Zimmer (right shoulder, oblique): Zimmer suffered another setback last week, injuring his oblique -- the opposite side of the one he pulled at the beginning of the season -- but the outfielder has been cleared to begin throwing and hitting again in Arizona. Francona is hoping Zimmer will get back into games fairly soon, but that is still to be determined.

Christian Arroyo (right forearm tendinitis): The Indians’ newest addition from the Rays is currently on the 60-day injured list and was sent straight to Arizona to continue rehabbing his arm.

This date in Indians history

2008: Kelly Shoppach tied the Major League record for extra-base hits with five against Detroit. He was one of the 11 players to achieve the feat, three of whom have done so with the Tribe.