Smoke signals

• It was announced on Thursday that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig will retire from his position in January 2015. Indians manager Terry Francona always has spoken kindly of Selig, whose history with Francona and his father, Tito, goes back to their Milwaukee days. Tito Francona played in Milwaukee in 1970 and Terry suited up for the Brewers in 1989-90.

"Because me and my dad both played for him," Francona said, "I think he's always felt a little bit of a kinship. When you're in a job like that, you're going to get some criticism, and he's overseen some tough things in our game. But I've been around him enough to know that if you spend 30 seconds with him, [you can see] how much he loves the game.

"I admire that a lot in him. I respect him a great deal. I think he's just a really nice guy. I think he really cares about the game."

• Right-hander Justin Masterson, who strained his left oblique on Sept. 2, returned to the mound with one shutout inning of relief with two strikeouts and a groundout in Wednesday's 7-2 win over the White Sox. Francona said Masterson was not available to pitch Thursday but could resume his relief role as soon as Friday in Minnesota.

"We were trying to accomplish a few things at once," Francona said of using Masterson on Thursday. "Win, and get him back acclimated so he can be a weapon for us. I thought he had life on his fastball, and I thought his slider was really good."

• MLB made a scoring change for the Indians' 7-1 loss to the Royals on Sept. 16. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Cleveland third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall was initially given an error for mishandling a grounder from Emilio Bonifacio. That has been changed to an RBI single for Bonifacio, though Indians reliever Matt Albers is still credited with an unearned run.