GOODYEAR, ARIZ.: Ubaldo Jimenez delivered his most effective outing of the spring Thursday, holding the San Francisco Giants to one run and three hits in four innings, as the Indians prevailed 6-4 at Goodyear Ballpark.
“After the first two batters, Ubaldo was aggressive in the strike zone and the results showed it,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “When he drives that ball down, you see what happens.”
Jimenez was abetted by an offense that produced home runs by Nick Swisher and Jason Giambi plus another big day at the plate by Ryan Raburn, who raised his batting average to .550.
Swisher blasted a three-run homer in the sixth, his third of the spring, and Giambi hit his first of the spring the same inning. Raburn delivered two doubles, driving in two runs.
“Obviously, he feels good about himself,” Francona said of Raburn. “He’s got a nice, short swing going. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but that kind of swing plays well off the bench.”
Matt Capps threw one hitless inning, but Cody Allen suffered through his first bad spring outing, giving up three runs, three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
Brantley nearly back
Michael Brantley had the stitches removed from his left arm Thursday and participated in the full workout with an eye toward playing in a game Sunday.
“We’ll probably let him go a couple of days where he does everything on the field,” Francona said. “Maybe Sunday he’ll play three or four innings. That’s probably pretty reasonable.”
Brantley received a deep cut in his arm when he slid into third and was spiked during a game against the Oakland Athletics on Feb. 25.
Perez update
Chris Perez is on track to begin a throwing program as early as Sunday after being shut down since Feb. 26 because of a strained muscle in his right shoulder.
“He’ll be down without picking up a ball for 10 days, then he’ll be looked at,” Francona said. “He’s much better for sure.”
In the fold
The Indians signed 11 pre-arbitration eligible players to one-year deals: Cody Allen, Michael Brantley, Lonnie Chisenhall, Tim Fedroff, Trey Haley, T.J. House, Corey Kluber, Zach McAllister, Chris McGuiness, Danny Salazar and Bryan Shaw.
Carson cleared
Matt Carson, struck in the helmet with a pitch Wednesday, passed all of the concussion tests and was cleared to play.
Marching onward
The Indians travel to Surprise to play the Kansas City Royals this afternoon. Kluber will start against Noel Arguelles.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/indians.
