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Indians add Lowe to Minor League bullpen

SAN DIEGO -- The Indians added experience to their bullpen depth on Saturday, reaching an agreement with free-agent reliever Mark Lowe on a Minor League contract. The club had not officially announced the deal immediately following Saturday's 9-8 exhibition loss to the Padres.

Lowe was released by Tampa Bay on Wednesday after being informed that he would not be part of the Rays' Opening Day relief corps. The right-hander is expected to report to Triple-A Columbus once the contract with Cleveland is officially completed.

Lowe said Wednesday that he had no hard feelings over Tampa Bay's decision.

"I have a lot of respect for this organization," Lowe said. "The reasons they brought me in here and the way that they treated me, they're a class act."

In parts of eight seasons in the Majors, the 30-year-old Lowe has a 4.17 ERA in 264 games over stints with the Mariners, the Rangers and the Angels. Lowe had a 9.26 ERA in 11 appearances for Los Angeles last season, but he posted a 3.63 ERA with 70 strikeouts against 32 walks in 84 1/3 innings with Texas from 2011-12.

This spring, Lowe allowed just one earned run with 12 strikeouts and one walk in 10 1/3 Grapefruit League innings.

"I've never had a spring go this well," Lowe said Wednesday. "I was throwing a lot of strikes. I had good stuff. And I was using both sides of the plate with all of my pitches. That usually doesn't happen with me during Spring Training, so I came in and did what I had to do."

Cleveland's Opening Day bullpen includes closer John Axford, setup men Cody Allen and Bryan Shaw, lefties Marc Rzepczynski and Josh Outman and right-handers Vinnie Pestano, Blake Wood and Scott Atchison.

Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, and follow him on Twitter @MLBastian.
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