Indians' Clevinger shut down 6-8 weeks with upper back strain
The Cleveland Indians will be without one of their key starters for a lengthy period of time after placing Mike Clevinger on the 10-day injured list.
Indians manager Terry Francona acknowledged Tuesday it will be a long-term absence, saying the right-hander will be sidelined six-to-eight weeks "before we're even looking at him picking up a ball," according to Zack Meisel of The Athletic.
Clevinger had been cruising against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, striking out 10 while allowing just one hit over the first five innings, but exited due to back tightness in the sixth after throwing only 75 pitches.
Upon being evaluated further, an MRI revealed that Clevinger had suffered a high-grade strain of the teres major muscle in his upper back, according to Tribeinsider.
The right-hander is coming off a breakout 2018 season that saw him reach the 200-inning plateau for the first time in his career while posting a 3.02 ERA and a 3.52 FIP.
In a corresponding move, Cleveland recalled right-handed pitcher Nick Wittgren from Triple-A. Wittgren owns a 3.60 ERA and a 3.50 FIP over 127 2/3 innings in relief at the major-league level. He pitched for the Miami Marlins from 2016-18.
The 6-3 Indians are set to begin a three-game series against the first-place Detroit Tigers on Tuesday without a scheduled off-day until April 18. Cleveland's rotation still consists of three aces in Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and Trevor Bauer, along with a potential rising star in Shane Bieber.
While a replacement starter hasn't been named for Saturday's game against the division rival Kansas City Royals, Adam Plutko could be called up from Triple-A. Over 76 2/3 innings for Cleveland last year, the 27-year-old owned a 5.28 ERA and a 6.10 FIP while making 12 starts and five relief appearances.
Clevinger joins Danny Salazar, Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis, and Bradley Zimmer on Cleveland's injured list.