CLEVELAND: The Indians have planned to throw Mike Clevinger in an abbreviated start for Tuesday’s Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, but they haven’t ruled out the possibility that Corey Kluber could start on short rest.
Kluber delivered a strong outing in Game 1, throwing 6⅓ scoreless innings. He’s now thrown 13⅓ scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts after coming back from a mild quadriceps strain.
The Indians’ starting rotation situation might force them into an effective bullpen game in the ALCS, far from an ideal situation. Clevinger is still “penciled in,” but Indians manager Terry Francona is keeping his options open.
“You know what, we’ve talked about not just Game 4 but Games 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 because there’s a little bit of ambiguity there, with Trevor [Bauer] and his finger, with Clevinger not being stretched out,” Francona said Saturday. “So there are some options I think for us moving forward. I think we’ll go game by game.”
To avoid a bullpen game with a few innings from Clevinger altogether, Game 2 starter Josh Tomlin would possibly also have to throw on short rest in Game 5. The Indians could also choose to throw Kluber on short rest and then Clevinger in Game 5 with an off day to follow.
Bauer cutting his finger while repairing a drone could come into play. Bauer as well as anyone on the Indians’ staff can throw on short rest but now that he’s scheduled to start Game 3, that situation wouldn’t arise. It makes for a complicated puzzle.
“If it works say for [Kluber], it can’t just work for him,” Francona said. “There’s always trickle down. You’ve got to have answers other places, too. So, I guess I fall back on, whatever we think is in our best interest, we’ll do.”
Droning on
Bauer has played catch twice since cutting his finger while repairing one of his drones. The club’s concern is more with making sure the wound is closed enough and not bleeding during Game 3 and less with how it would affect his pitches.
It was an off-the-field accident at just about the worst possible time. The club’s looking at it as nothing more.
“The guys who were in here before me said [Bauer] was extremely [remorseful], like he [felt] really, really bad,” Francona said. “You know what? It was an accident. He wasn’t doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. He could’ve been doing a model airplane. He just cut his finger. It wasn’t like he fell off a motorcycle or he was drunk at 3 a.m. and got cut on a beer bottle. It happens.”
To many, it was more of a laughing matter — that is, if it doesn’t end up affecting his pitching.
“I laughed,” Kipnis said. “As long as he can pitch, I mean, what else is going to go on? If anybody has covered Bauer or talked to Bauer, it’s kind of funny. He’s a big, dumb animal you need to babysit sometimes with his drones and his toys. I don’t care. As long as he can still pitch for us, we’ve already shown up and overcome everything else. At this point, guys are just like, ‘Eh, add it to the list.’ We’ll move on from there. It’s not as funny of a joke if he can’t pitch, but if he can pitch, ‘You’re an idiot, but go get some outs now.’”
National exposure
Francisco Lindor made a big splash on Friday night with a two-run home run that proved to be the difference in Game 1.
Andrew Miller, who’s having an October to remember, hopes that if Lindor lacks the exposure of others, that it’s coming around now.
“He should already be broken out,” Miller said. “I’ve played in Boston and New York where it doesn’t take much for guys to turn into stars just because of the media presence. Here in Cleveland, maybe he doesn’t get quite the attention, but he deserves more than he’s getting. I think baseball people certainly understand how good he is and how good he can be. He’s only going to get better.”
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ.