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Indians notebook: Left-hander Tom Gorzelanny benefiting from lower arm angle, chance in bullpen

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CLEVELAND: The interest to bring in left-handed relief pitcher Tom Gorzelanny started sometime in the second part of last season, when he was pitching for the Detroit Tigers.

That’s around the time Gorzelanny, facing the Indians, began throwing with a lower arm slot. It was more of a side-arm motion than his previous delivery, which was more over-the-top. The result was better break on his slider and curveball and more dip in his sinker and changeup.

The Indians took notice.

“I remember [Indians manager Terry Francona], when he pitched against us for Detroit last year, Tito and I were like, ‘Wow, this is pretty good,’ ” said pitching coach Mickey Callaway. “[Gorzelanny] came and pitched against us and I think [Michael Brantley] came back like, ‘Whoa, that’s different. That’s pretty good.’ And we went into the offseason saying, ‘Hey, we’d like to have that guy.’ ”

Gorzelanny tried working with the new arm slot through last season but wasn’t able to properly implement it until the second half of the year. He needed an offseason and some time in Triple-A to get comfortable with it. The Indians targeted him as a candidate to be a nonroster invitee, as he had a 5.95 ERA last year for the Tigers but had the potential to have a rebound year with such a significant change.

Gorzelanny, 33, now has his chance to stick in the Indians’ bullpen as primarily a lefty-on-lefty specialist, something the Indians haven’t consistently had this season.

“Now that I’ve gotten to this point, I feel light-years ahead of where I was when I started this and feel stronger and more confident with it,” Gorzelanny said. “I feel just as good as I did when I was throwing overhand. I think it was a good change, a smart change and something that could extend my career.”

Ross Detwiler and Kyle Crockett haven’t been able to provide a reliable lefty out of the bullpen to enter games and get lefties out in high-leverage situations. Francona doesn’t want to simply have a lefty in the bullpen just to have one if he isn’t pitching well. Gorzelanny’s presence, in a way, keeps opposing teams honest.

“It’s such a valuable weapon when you’re trying to navigate a lineup, trying to give your main guys some rest, and even if it’s one hitter, one batter a day, that’s a huge benefit for us and our team,” Callaway said. “We can make sure that they don’t pinch-hit at times, things like that. It makes it a lot easier on Tito to make a decision on who to bring in.”

Hit it hard

Normally when Francisco Lindor walks to the plate, he has his walk-up song in his head, often the Space Jam theme.

But as he walked to the plate with the Indians trailing 4-3 in the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night, he had Brantley’s voice in his head instead.

“It’s funny, because [Carlos] Santana gets on base and I’m walking [to the plate] and all I’m thinking is Brantley telling me, ‘Make hard contact. Make hard contact,’ ” Lindor said. “The whole entire time. I get on-deck, [Jason Kipnis] bunts, I’m walking to the plate. Usually I’m singing my song in my mind.”

Lindor responded with a game-tying triple to right-center. He then scored the game-winning run on Mike Napoli’s sacrifice fly, giving the Indians their second walk-off win in as many nights. The Indians hadn’t had a walk-off win in April or May, but have found some home-town magic this week.

“It means we can do it,” Lindor said. “We know we can do it, but it’s always fun, it’s always good to have moments like this, so we can continue to believe in ourselves. We can continue to push and we can continue to motivate each other, push each other and know that the game’s not over until the 27th out.”


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