Despite errors, Tribe wants Gomes to keep throwing

CLEVELAND -- Indians catcher Yan Gomes is known for his strong right arm. In the first few weeks of this season, though, Gomes has featured a loose cannon.

Entering Saturday's game against the Blue Jays, Gomes had already made five errors for Cleveland. The 26-year-old catcher had three errors all of last season and only four in his career heading into the current campaign.

Gomes said it is hard not to be aware of the issue.

"It's natural to -- definitely," Gomes said. "But it's the game, man. I guess now it's becoming a learning experience. I've got to keep that aggressiveness. That's never going to get away from me."

That last sentiment was echoed by Indians manager Terry Francona on Saturday morning.

"He's pretty tough on himself, too," Francona said. "We try to keep an eye on things like that. The one thing we don't want him to do is stop throwing, because it's such a big part of his game."

During the seventh inning of Friday's 3-2 loss to Toronto, Gomes skipped a throw to first baseman Nick Swisher on a pick-off attempt. With a perfect throw, Munenori Kawasaki would likely have been thrown out easily on the play, but the error allowed the runners to advance to second and third base.

Two batters later, Edwin Encarnacion hit an RBI single with the bases loaded to put the Blue Jays ahead for good.

"I wasn't pleased with the outcome," Francona said. "But I loved what they did. I've been talking to Swish and Gomer about that play. It's there and they had the guy out, and it had the chance to get us out of a big inning."