Cleveland Indians: Mike Clevinger made a statement in his 2017 debut

The Cleveland Indians pulled out a close 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday afternoon, thanks to the work of Mike Clevinger.

Cleveland Indians fans watched the team put up a total of five runs against the Kansas City Royals this weekend. But two wins will help ease the frustration.

Mike Clevinger took the mound today and saw his offense put up just a single run, but it didn’t seem to bother him.

Clevinger went 5.2 innings, allowing just a single hit in his 2017 debut. He did walk four batters, but countered with five strikeouts.

That one hit was all the offense the Royals could muster, as the bullpen combined for 3.1 no-hit innings, capped off by another save from Cody Allen.

While the bullpen remains dominant, the biggest takeaway from the pitching staff’s one-hit outing is Clevinger’s performance. He stepped in for an injured Corey Kluber and provided one of the best starts the team has had in 2017.

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If not for the four walks, Clevinger may have been able to go further than 5.2 innings, as he exited with just 96 pitches thrown. More than one run of run support would have helped his cause too, as Terry Francona went to the bullpen in the sixth inning with the slim lead.

Regardless, this start from Clevinger puts pressure on both Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer moving forward. Tomlin had a great start Saturday, but has been extremely inconsistent all season. The same goes for Bauer, who enters his start tomorrow with an ERA of 7.67.

Francona and the front office may want to see another start or two from Clevinger before making any changes, but it is hard to do much better than he did today.

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Kluber is set to return next Saturday if everyone goes according to plan, so Clevinger may not get a chance to continue proving himself right away. But it may take just one more bad start from Bauer or Tomlin for fans to begin calling for Clevinger’s return.