Catcher/utility man Yan Gomes is back with the Cleveland Indians after Lou Marson was placed on the disabled list Sunday with a sore shoulder.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Yan Gomes really did leave and he really is back.
The Indians recalled Gomes and left-hander Scott Barnes from Class AAA Columbus before Sunday's day-night doubleheader against Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium. It's only a day trip for Barnes, but Gomes will be around for awhile because reserve catcher Lou Marson returned to the disabled list with a sore right shoulder.
Gomes was optioned to Columbus on Wednesday when Marson was activated. Marson is back on the DL with a sore right shoulder that manager Terry Francona said has been bothering him since spring training. Getting run over at the plate by Tampa Bay's Desmond Jennings on April 6 didn't help Marson's condition.
"Lou is battling a couple of things," said Francona. "One, his neck hurts [from the collision] and his throwing routine was thrown off. We told him, 'This isn't fair. His strength is catching and throwing.' We need to try and get him back to that."
Gomes, who hit .211 (4-for-19) with a triple and two homers in six games with the Tribe, was hitting .300 (6-for-20) with four doubles and three RBI at Columbus.
The Indians sent Gomes down because they wanted him to play every day. They feel he can be a starting catcher in the big leagues, but he still needs development. Now he'll have to learn mostly by observing as he plays behind the hot-hitting Carlos Santana. Gomes is not complaining.
"It might seem like a difficult thing, but I feel like you're going to get your best experience by being up here," said Gomes, who caught the second game Sunday. "You just can't take it like being a backup guy. You've got to work hard every day, talk to the pitchers every day, hit every day as if you're playing every day."
Gomes played 43 games with Toronto last season as a jack-of-all-trades. He says he hasn't perfected the ways of a bench player, but he feels more comfortable doing the job.
"It's about being able to come off the bench and not try to do too much," said Gomes. "Just do what you're supposed to do at that time."
Barnes filled the role of the 26th player that every team is allowed to use in a doubleheader. He entered the first game Sunday and helped contribute to Kansas City's 9-0 victory by allowing a two-run homer to Alex Gordon.
He was scheduled to be optioned to Columbus after the doubleheader.
I'm sorry: Jason Kipnis apologized to Francona and his teammates for not running out a dropped third strike Saturday with the tying run at third base and two outs in the ninth inning at Kauffman Stadium.
He not only apologized, but he Tweeted it as well.
"I Tweeted it because I got three text messages from unknown numbers calling for my head," said Kipnis. "And I will not change my phone number. I like my phone number."
In the Indians' 3-2 loss, Michael Brantley had just hit a two-run triple against closer Greg Holland. With Brantley on third, Kipnis swung and missed to strike out, but catcher Salvador Perez dropped the ball.
Kipnis never moved out of the box as Perez recovered the ball and tagged him to end the game.
"I apologized because I can't look up in the air," said Kipnis, who said he didn't see the ball get away from Perez. "The play wasn't over. When it's a curveball down, I have to see if it got by [the catcher].
"I would have been out. It wouldn't have changed anything."
Kipnis still has some explaining to do to Brantley. He apparently shattered the wooden batting tee in the visitor's batting cage at Kauffman Stadium. Brantley was needling Kipnis before Game 1 Sunday, asking him to replace the tee because he really liked hitting off it.
Unpleasant sight: Gomes was behind the plate for Columbus last week when Carlos Carrasco was hit by a line drive in the right elbow in a game against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
"It was ugly," said Gomes. "I thought he got hit in the face because of the way he landed on the ground. He was in a lot of pain, man."
X-rays on Carrasco's elbow showed a deep bruise, but not structural damage.
Finally: The Indians are lobbying MLB's scoring committee to see if they can get Santana an extra hit. In the second inning Saturday, his sharp grounder to third baseman Miguel Tejada was called an error. . . . Michael Bourn (right index finger) played catch between games on Sunday.