The injuries of Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco in the past two weeks have been devastating to the Indians, but when the Indians talked of starting rotation depth in March, they weren’t just talking about the starting five. Yes, the reason why the Indians came into the season with a great advantage over the rest of the division was because of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Salazar and Carrasco, but the real depth came behind them in the form of Josh Tomlin, who pitched extremely well after returning from shoulder surgery last year, Cody Anderson, who was confoundingly dominant in his rookie campaign last year, and most importantly, top pitching prospect Mike Clevinger.
The Indians have also used rookies Ryan Merritt and Shawn Morimando and both saw measures of success and I have little doubt that if they were needed to start this year, they would have been more than capable of filling in for a period.
Here the focus should be on Clevinger, though, as he is most likely to be a pivotal member of the play-off rotation now that two members have been knocked out with injury. Before we get to him, however, a short history lesson is needed about the importance of rookie starting pitchers for the Indians in the post-season.
Duster Mails
The 1920 Indians so out matched the Brooklyn Robins that they didn’t need any young help (although they did need it to get to the World Series in the first place), but Mails was integral in both the pennant hunt and the Series. Mails had played a couple games with Brooklyn in 1915 and 1916, but was still a rookie when he was picked up from the Sacramento Senators in August of 1920.
He joined the rotation for the stretch run in September and won all seven of his decisions that month in eight starts. He had a bit of a rough beginning, allowing three runs in one inning in his debut, but the Indians were smart not to give up on him and he threw complete games in each of his next six starts. He finished the season with a 1.85 ERA and was huge for the Tribe as they won the AL Pennant by just two games.
In the World Series (a best of 9 rather than best of 7), he pitched twice. First, in relief of Ray Caldwell in game three, the Indians second and last loss of the series. In that game, he pitched 6.2 shut out innings after Caldwell allowed two runs in the first. The second time through, Mails replaced Caldwell from the start and threw a complete game shut out in game six, a game the Indians won 1-0. He allowed just three hits and struck out four, outlasting Sherry Smith thanks to a George Burns double in what would be the most important game of his career.
Gene Bearden
The knuckle-balling left hander had pitched to just four batters in 1947, allowing three runs on two hits, a walk and a wild pitch, but he was a member of Cleveland’s big three (along with Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Bob Lemon) from early on in the season. Like Mails, he was huge at the end of the season, winning his last seven decisions to get to 20 wins on the year and pitching complete games in his last four (including two shut outs).
His last game of the year was the most important as the Indians finished the season tied with the Red Sox and it was Bearden who Lou Boudreau brought the ball to. He won that game 8-3 (only allowed 1 earned run in nine innings), then was in the regular rotation for the World Series, winning game three with a complete game shut out of the Boston Braves. He was set to start game seven, but the series only lasted six games and Bearden finished off Lemon’s effort in the finale to earn the save.
Jaret Wright
Both the 1954 and 1995 rotations were full of veteran pitchers and neither saw great success in the World Series, but it was a rookie who had the ball in the pivotal game seven against the Marlins in 1997. Wright was a true rookie in 1997 and, like Clevinger currently, didn’t have great overall season numbers. Despite that, like Mails and Bearden, he got hot at the right time and won his final three starts of the season. He originally joined the rotation in late June and struggled greatly in August, but over his last seven starts of the season had a 3.48 ERA and .230 average against. Unlike the previous two players’ teams, the 1997 Indians had the division and a play-off spot wrapped up early, but Wright’s late performances showed that he could be depended on in the post-season.
He pitched games two and five against the Yankees in the ALDS, winning both while allowing five earned runs across 11.1 innings. In the ALCS against Baltimore it worked out that he only started one of six games and, while he allowed five runs in three innings, the Indians still won 8-7 on a Sandy Alomar walk off single against Armando Benitez.
Wright pitched two games in the World Series, game four and seven and while memories may fade and fans may want to blame Wright for the loss in the deciding game, he was nothing but dominant. After getting knocked around by the Orioles, he went six innings in both starts and allowed just three runs in his first game (a 10-3 win) and one in game seven. All those bad memories that still exist began after Wright was pulled from the game that he had started on short rest.
Danny Salazar
Like Boudreau before him, when tasked with a one game play-off to decide entry into the post-season in 2013, manager Terry Francona went with the rookie. Salazar had joined the Indians initially in mid-July, but didn’t become a prominent member of the rotation until August. Once he did, he was obviously special and he finished the year with a 3.12 ERA and allowed no runs in two separate September starts.
Like 1920 and 1948, the Indians had to fight just to make the post-season, needing to win their final 10 games (which they did) to secure the top Wild Card spot. Because of this, Corey Kluber, Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez were used in the final days of the season rather than being saved for this pivotal one game play-off. Salazar was tabbed with the start and allowed three runs in four innings. It’s hard to say whether or not he could have pitched a few more innings, but the Indians had a great bullpen and were completely unable to score behind him, hastening his exit.
Mike Clevinger
No one can tell now exactly how Clevinger would be used in the post-season, but it is a fact that he will be, either as a starter initially or more likely as the first man in should Tomlin falter. Like the rookies before him, he is heating up at the perfect time as well. While his ERA of 5.33 may not breed confidence, his first promotion back in May was so bad that it marred his numbers for the rest of the year. After that poor start he had been used 11 times out of the rotation and bullpen with a combined 2.90 ERA and .204 average against before his most recent rough start against Detroit. Unlike those previous rookies (excluding Salazar), Clevinger can also be a big strike out guy and has 49 K’s in 52.1 innings.
In his last five of his last six appearances (three starts), Clevinger has allowed no more than one run in any game and held a 2.13 ERA overall through 12.2 innings with a .159 average allowed. As terrible as losing Carrasco and Salazar this late in the year is, the Indians could do a lot worse than Clevinger going into the post-season.
An interesting side note is that after the post-season, the first three pitchers mentioned had very dismal careers. It is very possible that there is a huge advantage in a semi-talented pitcher facing a team for the first time, particularly when he throws a something different (like a left handed knuckle ball) and that Mails, Bearden and Wright simply didn’t have the ability to have an illustrious career. While Clevinger (and Salazar) came into these games as more well thought of prospects and thus can be expected to have more success in the future, that doesn’t take away the fact that the Indians have had great success with rookies in the post-season and we could very well see that continue this year.
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