CLEVELAND _ Danny Salazar returned to the mound in a major-league game for the first time in nearly two years and came away with mixed results and a lower-than-normal velocity in the Indians' 7-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Thursday night.
Salazar hadn't pitched in a situation that mattered since October of 2017, making for an excruciatingly long wait and a frustrating rehab. He had an average outing, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks to go with two strikeouts. He entered the game as a modified opener and tossed four innings on 66 pitches.
The aspect that stood out, though, was Salazar's velocity. Quickly, it was evident that his velocity compared to not only his 2017 levels, but how he was pitching in rehab assignments in July, was down. Salazar topped out at 88.3 mph, well below his normal levels, and was often operating in the mid-80s.
Salazar was able to be mostly effective, though his long wait to return to the mound was quickly met with resistance. Salazar's third pitch of the night was a changeup that was left up in the zone, and it was crushed for a leadoff, solo home run by George Springer.
Salazar went on to dance around trouble for a few innings until Alex Bregman added a solo home run of his own in the fourth to make it a 2-0 score.
The Astros (70-40) pulled away in the later innings. With A.J. Cole on the mound. Michael Brantley blooped in an RBI double and Bregman followed with an RBI single that pushed the lead to 4-1. Brantley in the eighth drove in another run via a sacrifice fly against reliever Tyler Olson and Yordan Alvarez eventually followed with a two-run double to right.
Thursday night's game was also the debuts of Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes, who hit fourth and sixth in the lineup, respectively, and were right in the middle of everything the Indians (63-45) did. Puig in his first at-bat rocketed a ball to center field that was caught and later doubled off the wall in left field. Reyes opened his Indians' tenure with a single to left.
Though, both were thrown out at the plate. Reyes was nailed while trying to score after his single on Jason Kipnis' double to left-center field. Puig, later, tried to score on a fly ball to right field but was late on Josh Reddick's throw home.
Puig finished the night 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and a stolen base. Reyes went 1-for-4.
The Indians' lone run came in the fifth on Jose Ramirez's sacrifice fly to deep center field that scored Carlos Santana, temporarily cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Manager Terry Francona needed minor eye surgery earlier in the day and was unable to manage Thursday night's game. Instead, bench coach Brad Mills acted as manager. Francona is expected back on Friday.
