ST. PETERSBURG — Guardians outfielder Angel Martínez was activated from the 10-day injured list and placed in the leadoff spot for Friday night’s game against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
Also, left-handed reliever Tim Herrin was activated from the 15-day IL, while left-handed reliever Will Dion and utility player Daniel Schneemann were optioned to Triple-A Columbus.
Martínez, who suffered a non-displaced left foot fracture after fouling a ball off that foot on June 13, was batting .239 with a team-leading 11 home runs and 33 RBIs in 66 games at the time of the injury.
“I’m really happy to be back with the team,” Martínez said. “It seems like a long time. The biggest thing was staying patient and making sure I recovered well.”
Martínez, Chase DeLauter and José Ramírez all went down with injuries during a five-inning span of that June 13 game against the Tigers. The Guardians promptly lost five of their next seven games, but then stabilized with a 10-9 stretch before returning to full roster strength Friday night.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our group,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “The last 5 1/2 weeks could have looked very different. Any time you lose three of your best hitters in a [five-inning] span, it can really derail you. But this group never got down. We did a great job of continuing to find ways to win and keep our heads above water.”
“That was a crazy day [June 13],” Martínez said. “But I believe in this team and the people who are on this team. They have played well, and I’m just glad to be back as part of it.”
Vogt said it was a difficult decision to send Dion and Schneemann to Columbus. Dion had a 5.17 ERA in nine games in relief, while Schneemann, a Swiss Army Knife-type, was batting .206 with six homers and 28 RBIs in 83 games.
“You never want to send anybody to Triple-A,” Vogt said. “Will Dion came up and helped us quite a bit with some really good innings. Daniel Schneemann … that one hurts. I don’t think there’s any denying he has been a big part of our team for the last two years. At the same time, we had a difficult decision to make with Angel coming back. Daniel can go get some everyday at-bats and work on some things, because we know he’s going to come back and help us win a ton of games.”
Heading into Friday night’s game, after the activation of Martínez and Herrin, the Guardians had zero players on the IL.
“A lot of it is chance or luck, but it’s not all by accident,” Vogt said. “Our medical staff does a tremendous job. People get frustrated with me [because] I like to give people off-days. Our goal is to keep as many of our guys on the field as possible. Our medical staff does a great job of monitoring and our guys really take good care of their bodies.”