Smoke signals

• In the fifth inning of Tuesday's 6-2 win over the Tigers, Detroit's Ian Kinsler tried to stretch a single into the left-field corner into a double. Left fielder Brantley collected the ball after it caromed off the wall and threw Kinsler out at second for his Major League-leading fifth outfield assist. Over the past two seasons, Brantley (15) ranks second to only Kansas City's Alex Gordon (21) in assists from left field.

"He's so good at that and he practices it," Francona said of Brantley's spin-and-fire move in the left-field corner. "He's done it time and time again. That, at that time in the game, was a huge play."

• With his two-run single in the second inning on Wednesday, Brantley extended his hitting streak at Progressive Field to 18 games. That puts Brantley in a tie with Roberto Alomar (2000) and Kenny Lofton (1996) for the longest hitting streak in stadium history for an Indians batter.

• Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera headed into Wednesday's game batting .426 (20-for-47) with two home runs, six doubles, seven walks, seven RBIs and 13 runs scored in his past 12 games, which have included seven multihit showings. Over that span, the switch-hitting shortstop raised his season average to .268 from .205 for the Tribe.

• In his first start since being optioned to Triple-A Columbus, right-hander Danny Salazar allowed five runs on six hits with one strikeout and three walks in 2 2/3 innings against Syracuse on Wednesday. Salazar threw 70 pitches (42 strikes) and allowed one home run.