Smoke signals

• Indians Minor League shortstop Rubiel Martinez has been suspended without pay for 50 games, effectively immediately, for violations of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Martinez, 20, was hitting .176 through eight games in the Dominican Summer League in Cleveland's farm system.

• The Indians have nine errors in their last six games and have scored just eight runs combined in their past four losses. Indians manager Terry Francona said coming out of the All-Star break sluggish is always a concern.

"I think as a manager, that's probably your concern," Francona said. "I don't think we're sluggish. I think we're not finishing plays and we're not making plays. ... I think the best thing we can do is try to grind out a win today, we've got an off-day tomorrow, get home, and get back to a schedule where we've got some ground balls."

• The Indians' starting rotation headed into Wednesday's game with a 2.15 ERA and a .194 opponents' batting average over 12 games, dating back to July 7. Through five games on the current road trip, the Tribe's pitching staff had a 1.98 ERA.

Scott Kazmir continued that trend by throwing eight one-hit innings in Thursday's 10-1 win. Kazmir has won his last three decisions.

• Class A Mahoning Valley first baseman Nellie Rodriguez was named the Indians' Minor League Player of the Week for July 15-22. During that time, Rodriguez hit .464 (13-for-28) with three home runs, three doubles, nine runs and nine RBIs for the Scrappers.