Cleveland Indians catcher Yan Gomes will miss six to eight weeks with a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his right knee suffered in Saturday night's game with the Detroit Tigers. The Indians announced the news via Twitter late Sunday morning.

Gomes was hurt on a force play at the plate (video) when he took a throw from first baseman Carlos Santana on a ground ball off the bat of J.D. Martinez in the top of the ninth.

MLB.com's Jordan Bastian reports that Gomes underwent an MRI Sunday morning, and the results showed "a moderate sprain" of the MCL. Gomes stood with his right foot on the plate in attempt to make the force out. Martinez checked his swing and tapped a slow roller; Santana charged the ball and threw quickly to get the runner.

Tigers runner Rajai Davis slid into Gomes just after Gomes caught the ball, and the catcher had no chance to avoid the collision. He twisted and hyperextended his knee. He lay on the ground for some time before needing help leaving the field. He did not need a stretcher, but he also did not walk off under his own power.

Roberto Perez finished Saturday night's game behind the plate, and Santana caught Sunday. Bastian quoted Indians manager Terry Francona indicating that Perez would play the position most of the time that Gomes is out. Said Francona,

"Losing Gomes, man, that can be a season killer. But Perez can handle this. He's strong enough to catch every day."

Francona also indicated that Brett Hayes will come up from the Minors to take over the backup catcher's role. Cleveland has Monday off, so Hayes will have plenty of time to arrive at Progressive Field for Tuesday's series opener with the Chicago White Sox. Francona had this to say about calling up Hayes and making other 40-man and 25-man roster moves to get him here:

"Brett Hayes will be here. For today, for a number of reasons, having Carlos saves us a roster spot where we could add two pitchers. Just with the state of what's happened the last two days, I think we felt more comfortable getting two arms here."

Those two arms are Shaun Marcum and Austin Adams from the Minor Leagues. To make room for Hayes on the 40-man roster, the Indians released Minor-Leaguer Charles Brewer, and to make room for all three on the active roster, they sent lefty Kyle Crockett to Triple-A. Francona said they sent Crockett down because the pitcher still has options.