The Indians made a move today, a move that many fans have called for over the past few weeks, when they called up Lonnie Chisenhall from Columbus.
Chisenhall will make his major-league debut tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks when the Tribe continues their interleague road trip in Arizona.
To make room for Chisenhall, the Indians designated Adam Everett for assignment.
Chisenhall was the Indians' 1st round draft pick in 2008, and is coming off of being International League Player of the Week. Chisenhall has driven in 14 runs in just five games since coming off the disabled list with a concussion. Overall, Lonnie was hitting .265 in Columbus, but .303 with runners on base and .360 with runners in scoring position. Chisenhall drove in 44 runs for the Clippers.
Everett batted .217 for Cleveland in 34 games this season.
Mitch Talbot (2-4, 4.91 ERA) will face Arizona's Ian Kennedy (8-2, 2.90 ERA) in the 9:40 p.m. game as the Indians attempt to bounce back from having been swept by the San Francisco Giants over the weekend.
Kennedy has allowed only one earned run in 14 innings covering his last two starts. He has faced the Indians once in his career, going five innings and giving up three earned runs but getting a win. Kennedy has also pitched for the New York Yankees, for whom he recorded one win and four losses in parts of three seasons. Talbot has never faced Arizona, and is on a personal three-game losing streak. Talbot has not won since May 31, and received a no-decision in his last start, against the Colorado Rockies.
Arizona is batting .252 as a team and is led offensively by Justin Upton with a .305 batting average. Chris Young leads in homers with 15 and in RBI with 42. The Indians come in hitting .247, and among players who are available for full-time duty against the Diamondbacks, Asdrubal Cabrera leads in all three major offensive categories. Asdrubal is hitting .293 with 12 dingers and 44 RBI.
The Diamondbacks are in second place in the National League West, a game and a half behind the San Francisco Giants coming into tonight's play.
The Indians trail the Detroit Tigers by a full game in the American League Central race. The Tigers are playing a make-up game tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays in Detroit. At the time of this writing, it is the fourth inning in Motown with the Blue Jays and Tigers deadlocked at 2-2.