It was a week of the status quo for the Cleveland Indians as the ball club remained 5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the second wild card spot.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing as the Tribe went 3-3 after battling a hot Toronto Blue Jays team leading the American League East and perennial nemesis the Detroit Tigers.

Plus, with news that Corey Kluber will be shut down for a while, things could have been worse. But the Indians had pitchers including Josh Tomlin and Cody Anderson step up to help fill the void.

Tomlin has pitched as well as he has in his career after returning the rotation after preseason shoulder surgery. He’s 4-1 with a 2.55 ERA in 35.1 innings and 0.71 WHIP. Amazingly, he’s also struck out 32 batters to average a career-high 8.15 Ks per 9 innings. He also carries a 10.67 K/BB, which is way above his career average of 3.83.

Meanwhile, Anderson is 3-3 with a 3.72 ERA and pitched a dominant 7 shutout innings on Aug. 6 against Detroit to earn the victory in the 4-0 win. In his three starts since returning from the DL, Anderson has pitched more like he did when he was first called up the year when he provided an immediate boost to the rotation by giving up just four runs in his first 29.2 innings.

Carlos Carrasco is scheduled to resume his place in the rotation on Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox, so the starting pitching depth has paid off with the ability to absorb an injury at the most crucial time of the season.

With just 27 games left in the regular season, if the Indians want to make the playoffs they’ll need to have an amazing stretch run. But that’s not out of the question as the Tribe is near the .500 mark at 66-69 and is 11-5 in the last 16 games.

Francisco Lindor continues his clutch and inspired play in his rookie season and came through on Aug. 6 with a huge two-run triple to give the Indians a 2-0 lead and break through against Justin Verlander.

Carlos Santana has finally started to provide some clutch hits as he is hitting .348 (8-for-23) in his last seven games and .286 (16-for-56) in his last 15. An occasional unexpected boost by career minor leaguer Michael Martinez also helped in the game as he went 3-for-4 with and RBI and run scored and made a nice running catch in left field.

It’s that all-hands-on-deck approach that is going to have come into play in September if the Tribe is going to make it truly interesting. Who says it can’t happen?

On paper, the Indians have a fairly decent schedule this week with three games on the road against the White Sox (65-70) and then begin an 11-game home stand at Progressive Field starting with four games against free-falling Detroit (62-74).

The White Sox have been playing some good ball lately as they just swept a three-game series on the road against Kansas City with victories by the scores of 12-1, 6-1 and 7-5, so perhaps it won’t be an easy series for the Tribe, but one that needs to be won to continue any real shot at playoff contention.

It all gets started on Labor Day with a 2:10 p.m. start with Trevor Bauer (10-11, 4.56 ERA) facing lefty ace Chris Sale (12-7, 3.29 ERA).

Bauer has struggled in the second half as he is 5-8 with a 5.48 ERA in his last 15 games and 2-3 with a 6.15 ERA in his last 7 games. Walks and a lack of control have contributed to his troubles on the mound, but the Indians have been working with Bauer on some adjustments, so hopefully they will pay off when he faces the White Sox lineup.

Sale is having another great season and has fanned 239 hitters in 177.2 innings and posted a 1.04 WHIP. He will be a tough challenge for the Indians lineup, but don’t forget that last week the Indians hit enough to win against David Price in Toronto.

Carrasco (12-9, 3.53 ERA) will take the mound for the game scheduled for 8:10 p.m. Sept. 8 against lefty Carlos Rodon (6-6, 4.10 ERA) in a match-up would seem to favor the Indians, although Carrasco is making his first start since Aug. 21.

Rodon gets his share of K’s, with 123 in 118.2 innings, but he also walks quite a few hitters and has 64 during that same span. His 1.50 WHIP indicates he’s susceptible to big innings.

Tomlin will get the start in the finale of the three-game series against Chicago. While the White Sox will counter with Jeff Samardzija (9-11, 4.87 ERA), who has had a disappointing season for Chicago after he was acquired in the off-season.

Games against Detroit are scheduled for Sept. 10-13 with game times at 7:10 p.m. for the first three with the finale set for 1:10 p.m. Neither team has announced a starting pitcher.

Who’s Hot – Who’s Not

Lindor has kept his hot bat going and his hitting .390 (23-for-59) in his last 15 games and .385 (45-for-117) in his last 30 games. His defensive play and all-around hustle has rubbed off on the team and stabilized the infield along with Giovanny Urshela at third base.

Lonnie Chisenhall was recently named the American League Defensive Player of the Month for August by ESPN. Yes, it’s true. The article said Chisenhall was responsible for eight runs saved during the month, but didn’t really dive into just how that was calculated. Regardless, Chisenhall has looked smooth in the outfield and seems to have made a nice transition away from playing third base.

Jose Ramirez has cooled off quite a bit after a hot stretch when Jason Kipnis was on the DL. Ramirez is hitting just .133 (2-for-15) in his last 7 games and .200 (7-for-35) in his last 15 games and for the season is hitting .198.

Urshela also has struggled at the plate recently and is hitting .190 (20-for-105) in his last 30 games, .163 (7-for-43) in his last 15 games, and .211 (4-for-19) in his last 7 games. Unlike Lindor, Urshela seems to be struggling in his first extended stretch in the Major Leagues.