Smoke signals

• Indians center fielder Michael Bourn was out of the lineup on Saturday to give his legs a break during Cleveland's six-game, seven-day trip through Tampa Bay and Toronto (both stadiums feature articial turf). It was a scheduled day off for Bourn, who recently returned after dealing with tightness in his left hamstring.

"We've got six games in a row on turf and I'm just coming back off [the injury]," Bourn said. "[Francona] has been good with me, man. He's been honest with me and told me to be honest with him. I told him I'd do that. I'm just trying to get back to where I can get back to my normal form and run and play like I know I can."

• Indians third baseman Carlos Santana entered Saturday batting .139 through 35 games this season. He was mired in a 1-for-25 slump in the past seven games, following a four-game stretch (April 28-May 2) in which he hit .400 with three homers and eight RBIs for the Tribe. Prior to that brief breakout, Santana was caught in a 3-for-58 dry spell that lasted 16 games.

"We'll have a lot of patience. He's our cleanup hitter," Francona said. "We're not going to send him to Triple-A. He's arguably our best hitter, our most productive hitter. We've got a few, but he's right in that. We need to be patient, because when he gets hot, he's going to get very hot. If you're not patient, you miss out on that."

• Indians catcher Yan Gomes, who headed into Saturday's game with the most errors (nine) among position players in the American League, made two impressive throws for outs in Friday's win over the Rays. Gomes caught Ben Zobrist stealing in the first inning and cut down Ryan Hanigan at second when he tried to advance on a pitch that skipped away from the catcher.

"He made two really good throws," Francona said. "I think what happened was he had enough time, where he didn't have to make a perfect throw. Because of that, he actually made two perfect throws. When he's trying to be so quick, that's when he gets rushing a little bit."

• Heading into Saturday, Asdrubal Cabrera had gone 9-for-13 at the plate with five extra-base hits in his previous three games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cabrera is the first Tribe shortstop to have nine hits, including five extra-base hits, in a three-game span since Lou Boudreau accomplished the feat in 1948.