On April 2, 2012, Jiménez was suspended five games by MLB for hitting former teammate Troy Tulowitzki with a pitch on the elbow the previous day. They walked toward each other and were separated, but no punches were thrown and no ejections were made. Jiménez was in conflict with Tulowitzki after he and former teammate Carlos González got lucrative contract extensions after the 2010 season, while Jiménez did not. He originally intended to appeal the suspension but later decided against doing so. In a start against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 14, Jiménez struggled with his command and had his shortest outing on the season, being pulled after 2 1/3 innings, and matched a career-high 8 earned runs. In his previous 7 games his ERA was 2.14 but after the loss, his record fell to 8–8 and ERA rose to 5.09. Jiménez finished with a career worst 17 losses while winning 9 games for the Indians. He also led the league in wild pitches with 16.