Cleveland’s Choo gives thumbs up to protector

By Paul Hoynes

Cleveland Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND

A plastic thumb protector kept Shin-Soo Choo off the disabled list Monday night.

An inside pitch from Chris Sale hit Choo on the left thumb and knocked him down in the sixth inning of a 4-2 loss at Progressive Field.

“If it wasn’t for the protector, my thumb would have been broken again,” said Choo, who needed surgery to repair his fractured thumb last year after getting hit by San Francisco’s Jonathan Sanchez on June 24. He missed six weeks of the season. When he returned, he was fitted with a molded thumb protector.

“I wore it every game when I came back last year,” said Choo. “I’ve only worn it against lefties this year, but I might start wearing it all the time.”

Choo has already been hit three times this season, all by lefties.

“Ask them,” said Choo, when asked about why pitchers were hitting him.

Said manager Manny Acta, “Pitchers crowd him in, they pitch him inside. They know he has opposite-field power. A lot of teams crowd him.”

The decision to postpone Tuesday night’s game because of bad weather — at 7:37 p.m., it was cold, but there was no rain and a light wind blowing at Progressive Field — has re-arranged the Tribe’s starting rotation.

Justin Masterson will make his scheduled start today at noon against Chicago. Following Thursday’s off-day, Derek Lowe will start Friday in Kansas City followed by Jeanmar Gomez on Saturday. Gomez was supposed to make his first start of the season Tuesday night.

Ubaldo Jimenez, whose five-game suspension ends Friday, will start Sunday after getting bumped by Gomez. Where does that leave Josh Tomlin, who started and lost Monday’s 4-2 game to Chicago? Acta said he’ll be in the bullpen until rejoining the rotation on April 19 in Seattle.

Asked why the game was postponed, Acta said, “We have enough days off this month, but unfortunately, it’s going to be grueling weather out there. It’s not going to be baseball, it’s going to be survival.”