Indians turn to rookie pitcher Ryan Merritt for Game 5 of ALCS
TORONTO – After their first loss of the entire postseason, there’s no reason for the Cleveland Indians to panic.
They still have a three games to one lead in the American League Championship Series and they have a pair of games at home if they aren’t able to eliminate the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon.
But they’ll send a rookie left-hander to the mound in Game 5 and a lack of starting pitching depth that so far hasn’t been a factor this postseason is looming like a fog over Lake Erie.
“We’re still up and we’ll just go into (Wednesday) with the same mindset, keep putting in that work, have a little bit of fun, let it all hang out and do our business,” rookie center fielder Tyler Naquin said after Tuesday’s 5-1 loss.
With ace Corey Kluber starting Game 4 on short rest, the Indians will ask another rookie – left-hander Ryan Merritt – to face a Blue Jays offense that is finally starting to awaken from its series-long slumber.
After going a collective .177 in the first three games of the ALCS (17-for-96 with four extra-base hits), they went 9-for-32 on Tuesday with a home run and a triple.
The 24-year-old Merritt posted an 11-8 record and 3.70 ERA at Class AAA this season before joining the big club for one start and 11 innings in September. He pitched well enough over those 11 innings (1-0, 1.64 ERA, 0.55 WHIP) that manager Terry Francona felt comfortable giving Merritt the ball – even with only one major-league start under his belt.
“If you told me at the first of the season that I’d be pitching in the ALCS ... I would have thought you were crazy,” the native of McKinney, Texas, said 21 hours before the most important game of his young career. “But it’s awesome that it’s here.”
Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista suggested the disparity in experience will work in Toronto’s favor.
“With our experience in our lineup,” he told Sportsnet Canada, “I’m pretty sure he’s going to be shaking in his boots more than we are.”
The Indians will make sure he’s well-prepared to face a Toronto lineup that has historically hit left-handed pitchers extremely well.
“He talked to Mick (pitching coach Mickey Callaway) a little bit about scouting reports this morning just to give him a chance to watch the game and also digest some of the stuff they talked about,” Francona said. “I think he’ll be fine.”
If Merritt should struggle, the Indians bullpen will be right there to back him up.
Trevor Bauer’s bloody pinkie knocked him out in the first inning of Game 3, forcing Francona to improvise even more than he already has so far this postseason.
Kluber going six innings on short rest in Game 4 resulted in relievers Dan Otero and Bryan Shaw pitching for a second consecutive game. But with the Indians trailing, Francona resisted the urge to use his two best relievers – Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, who have thrown 15 2/3 scoreless innings this postseason.
“If Miller and Cody pitched that would have been four out of five (games) pretty high-stress, high-leverage innings,” Francona said. We decided to try and go a different route. It didn’t work out as well as we wanted, but we do have those guys available with a day off behind it.”
Should the Indians fail to win Game 5 at what figures to be an energized Rogers Centre, they’d return home with 31-year-old Josh Tomlin (13-9, 4.40 ERA during the regular season) lined up to pitch Game 6 and Kluber, again on short rest, scheduled for a possible Game 7.
All of a sudden, a series that seemed destined to end in a sweep could conceivably come down to a team already without injured starters Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar (and maybe even Bauer) trying to ride its bullpen to the finish line.
But postseason history is full of unlikely heroes.
As he takes the mound for the Indians in Game 5, Ryan Merritt will try to add his name to the list.