Indians designate Jose Lopez for assignment; recall reliever Frank Herrmann

The Indians' beleaguered pitching staff has called for help.

By Navin Vaswani

Aug 7, 2012 at 3:30 pm ET • 1 min read

The Indians have designated Jose Lopez for assigment and recalled right-handed relief pitcher Frank Herrmann from Triple-A Columbus, the club announced on Twitter.

Lopez, 28, with his third team in two years, is batting .249/.272/.366 this season, with four home runs and 28 RBI. His .639 OPS comes in lower than his career .689 mark. He signed a minor-league contract with the Indians over the winter that pays him $0.8 million in the major leagues.

Herrmann comes back up to the Indians with a career 4.63 ERA in 80 games and 101 innings, accumulated over the past two years. He wasn't very good in 2011, posting a 5.11 ERA and 1.54 WHIP, while opponents hit .302 against him. This season, in 39 games and 48.1 innings of relief for Triple-A Columbus, Herrmann has a 4.28 ERA and 53 strikeouts.

Herrmann comes up to bring some much-needed relief to Cleveland's overworked bullpen.

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