Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac - It's Time for the Indians to Bring Them Back

Just two weeks ago, the Cleveland Indians had a starting rotation that was remarkable. All five members were capable of dominating the opponents’ hitters.

Led by Cy Young Award candidate Shane Bieber, the Tribe pitchers blew through the first 17 games of the regular season without giving up more than four runs.

Then came the night of August 8th, when Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger decided to go out onto the mean streets of the Windy City, and had to be quarantined when they violated the protocol Major League Baseball and the Indians put forth in handling the coronavirus pandemic.

In the 11 games since the trip to Chicago, the Cleveland pitching staff has allowed more than four runs six times.

Carlos Carrasco hasn’t pitched well in his last three starts. Adam Plutko has been hit hard in his last two. 

So, right now, the dominance in the starting staff depends on Bieber, Aaron Civale, and a youngster who has one major league start in Triston McKenzie.

Can Carrasco return to form? Of course, Sandy Alomar Jr. discussed how the veteran is trying to make some adjustments and Alomar alluded to how Cookie is not moving the ball up and down in the strike zone.

Still, in his last 12 innings, over those three starts, Carrasco has allowed 10 earned runs (7.50 ERA) and has walked nine hitters, and given up three gopher balls.

Plutko, who to be fair, entered the season as the sixth starter/long reliever, has had issues getting through the batting order a second time in his three starts, pitching 10 innings and allowing 11 runs (9.90 ERA) and has just four strikeouts.

Does the front office really want to depend on the 23-year-old rookie in McKenzie, a guy who hadn’t pitched in a competitive game since 2018 before dominating the Tigers last Saturday night? That’s one helluva gamble.

And with the Cleveland offense struggling on a nightly basis to score runs, anything less than outstanding pitching seems to spell defeat for the Indians. 

That puts a heck of a lot of pressure on the two holdovers from the beginning of the season, Bieber and Civale.

Those two have been tremendous. As stated before, Bieber is a candidate for the Cy Young Award, going 5-0 with a 1.11 ERA in his six starts, striking out an ungodly 65 hitters in 40-2/3 innings.

Civale has been very good too, with a 3-2 record and a 2.91 ERA in 34 innings. He threw a complete game against Pittsburgh in his last start.

So, why we understand the move the organization made in putting Clevinger and Plesac on the restricted list first, and then sending them basically to the minor leagues, the fact is, the performance of the staff has suffered without them.

Therefore, it seems like time to smooth things over with the rest of the roster and get at least one of the two back with the big club right away.

Plutko is scheduled to make his next start against the first place Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night, and based on his last three outings, it would be a stretch to find a fan looking forward to that matchup.

What seemed like a historically great starting rotation has sprung leaks, and it is not due to injury. If the Indians want to make another deep post-season run, they should understand having one or both of these pitchers back is a necessity.