CLEVELAND -- It wasn't George Kottaras' two home-run game that brought Indians catcher Yan Gomes back a day early from paternity leave. Gomes said that he told his wife, Jenna, that if she needed him for the full three days, he would take it but two days was fine.
"Her mom and parents are here. All I was doing was holding the baby. I was a pretty good cheerleader the past couple days," Gomes said before Monday's game against Minnesota at Progressive Field.
During the Tribe's six-game road trip to San Francisco and the Los Angeles Angels, Gomes was thinking there was a possibility it was going to happen then. It didn't though as Jenna did not start going into labor until late Friday night/Saturday morning.
Gomes said he got a text from his wife after Friday's game that she was having contractions 10 minutes apart. Around 2 a.m. Saturday morning contractions closed to within three minutes and they were off to the hospital where Brooklyn Mae was born later that morning.
"I thought it was going to happen on the West Coast and not make it back in time. The process happened so quickly. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it if we were on the West Coast," Gomes said. "The whole experience was unbelievable. I'm just extremely proud of my wife. Just to see how she went though it and how strong she was."
With Gomes back, the Indians had to make a roster move as they placed Jason Giambi on the disabled list for the second time this season. He left during the sixth inning of Saturday's game against the White Sox with a right calf strain.
Giambi began the season on the disabled list with fractured rib after being hit by a pitch in a spring training game. He was activated on April 21 and played in four games, going 0 for 10.
"Bourn is not ready to play but we feel like he's close. Giambi can hit but he's still not sure if he can do the rest of it to the point where it is iffy," Terry Francona said.
Bourn tweaked his left hamstring during Saturday's game but the training staff continues to hope that it was just scar tissue flaring up and that it wasn't serious. The Indians will have to make an additional roster move before Tuesday's game as Josh Tomlin will join the rotation.
When asked how much longer Kottaras could be on the roster, Francona said: "We're going to walk through it daily to see what fits and how we make it fit. We can only have 25 and we'll see. I think George is aware that we want to keep him here but is also aware that we have to do what we have to do."
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