Smoke signals

• Francona has seen replays of the play at the plate in the eighth inning on Tuesday, when Carlos Santana was tagged out by catcher Josh Thole. Francona said Wednesday that he still feels Thole's positioning was fine, considering the relay throw from left fielder Melky Cabrera forced the catcher into Santana's path.

"The throw kind of took him across the plate," Francona said. "I don't know what else he could've done. I wish I could say, 'I wish we could've challenged something,' but I thought [Thole] did a good job. ... I thought the bat [on the ground] messed up Carlos. He didn't know where to go because the bat was laying there."

Francona noted that he did consider pulling Santana in favor of a pinch-hitter, but quickly decided against it. Lefty Brett Cecil was on the mound for Toronto and lefty-swinging Lonnie Chisenhall was on deck, so Francona prioritized keeping his options open for a pinch-hit scenario.

• Designated hitter Jason Giambi, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right calf, will be eligible for activation on Monday. Cleveland is still weighing its options for the 43-year-old Giambi, who went 0-for-10 in four games prior to being sidelined.

"He's doing good," Francona said. "We've got to figure out our roster, obviously. The one thing we'll always want to do is be respectful of 'G,' because he deserves that, and make it work on our roster. Sometimes that's harder than it has been in the past. That's not his fault."

• Prior to Tuesday's game, when the Indians faced Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, Francona said he had "pretty good numbers" in his career against knucklers. During his playing days, Francona hit a combined .375 (12-for-32) against Tom Candiotti, Terry Clark, Charlie Hough, Joe Niekro and Phil Niekro.