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Tribe rotation shift gives Anderson another shot
SEATTLE -- The red-hot Cleveland Indians shook up their rotation Monday, opening the door for right-hander Cody Anderson to get another shot at proving himself.
Anderson (1-3, 6.81 ERA) provided plenty of reasons for doubt while starting eight games in April and May, but he went out on a good note. His most recent start at the major-league level, which came on May 23, saw Anderson give up just one run off five hits over seven innings in a 5-1 win over the White Sox. But that start came as the designated 26th roster player in a doubleheader, meaning he had to go back to Triple-A after the game.
He's back because the Indians are skipping Danny Salazar's turn in the rotation because the 26-year-old right-hander has tightness in his shoulder.
The Indians initially had veteran righty Carlos Carrasco as the Tuesday starter, but they announced midway through Monday's win over the Mariners that Carrasco would move back one day to fill Salazar's Wednesday spot. The change gives Cleveland a little more roster flexibility in case the Indians want to activate reliever Joba Chamberlain from the disabled list after Tuesday's game.
Anderson will face a Seattle Mariners team that dropped its fourth consecutive game to fall four games back in the American League West standings. The Mariners (31-26) went into a three-game series with Texas last Friday with a share of the division lead but have fallen on hard times.
"We need to get back to how we played," manager Scott Servais said before Monday's loss.
The Mariners have fallen in large part because of starting pitching, but they got pretty good back-to-back outings from Hisashi Iwakuma and James Paxton on Sunday and Monday -- only to see the bats go quiet.
"Unfortunately we couldn't get anything going offensively," Servais said after Monday's 3-1 loss to the Indians.
Cleveland's Anderson will have a tough act to follow after Indians starter Trevor Bauer threw 7 2/3 solid innings in the 3-1 win Monday night.
"Today he did most of the work," teammate Rajai Davis said late Monday night. "He had his stuff working. You could see the confidence he had."
