Indians send Zach Plesac home for leaving hotel to go out in Chicago

The Cleveland Indians sent starter Zach Plesac home after he violated team rules by leaving the hotel to go out in Chicago on Saturday.

Plesac, who will be quarantined for 72 hours in Cleveland, drove back to Cleveland in a rental car.

The right-hander tossed six strong innings in the Indians' 7-1 victory at the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. Plesac is 1-1 on the season, with a 1.29 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 21 innings pitched.

"I would like to apologize to my teammates, the entire Cleveland organization and all of our fans for my actions Saturday evening. I realize I made a poor choice to leave the hotel, which broke protocols and could have endangered other people," Plesac said in a statement on Sunday night. "I understand that in these times of uncertainty, I need to be more vigilant and responsible and I am determined to earn my teammates' forgiveness and get back to work."

The Indians have been extremely stringent with safety protocols, and this action is seen as a warning to players. During summer camp, outfielder Franmil Reyes was ordered to stay away from the team after he was seen at a party without a mask.

Last month, Plesac, who has become a reliable starter for the Indians, spoke of the importance of players abiding by the "code of conduct'' that every team was required to submit to MLB in hopes of completing the 60-game regular season.

"Definitely any time you can maintain social distancing is going to be what we have to focus on,'' Plesac said July 3. "There are common sense situations, where you see things are packed or going out to the bars and drinking, doing stuff like that isn't stuff that's really important to us right now and shouldn't be important to us right now.

"We're given this privilege to be able to come back and play and given this short window to even play. It's a good time now just to really buckle down and focus on what's important and work toward something greater at the end of the season and, for these couple months, lock in and focus on what we have set for us at the end of the year.''

The Indians and White Sox wrapped their series in Chicago on Sunday night, with Cleveland winning 5-4 in 10 innings.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.