CLEVELAND — Aaron Civale endured three stints on the injured list for three different injuries to return in time to help the Guardians get to the postseason. He waited patiently in the bullpen in case manager Terry Francona needed him in their AL Division Series opener. He’s not going to complain that his introduction to playoff baseball is a winner-take-all Game 5 at Yankee Stadium that was pushed back to Tuesday afternoon after Monday’s rainout — 13 days after his last pitch in a game.
With the Guardians’ incredible season hanging in the balance after a 4-2 loss in Game 4, he’s going to embrace the stage.
“I think everyone pictures moments like this when you play this game,” Civale said Sunday night, “but I think just taking it one day at a time, one pitch at a time, going in there and focusing on enjoying it is going to be important.”
While many Guardians have made postseason debuts in this series, Civale has taken a longer route. He was a regular in Cleveland’s rotation in 2020 alongside Shane Bieber and Carlos Carrasco but didn’t get to pitch in the two-game AL Wild Card sweep by the Yankees. Civale led the team with 12 wins last season despite missing two-plus months with a sprained right middle finger, but Cleveland fell short in an 80-win campaign.
This season has been an individual struggle for many reasons, mainly health-related. Civale battled through his first six starts — including six runs over three innings April 24 at Yankee Stadium — then seemingly found an answer before landing on the injured list in late May with a sore left glute. He returned a month later and made five starts before spraining a ligament in his right wrist while throwing a curveball.
Civale returned in August and made three strong starts, striking out 18 batters over 14 2/3 innings, before a rough outing at Seattle led to another IL stint with right forearm inflammation. What could’ve been a serious situation ended up being a well-used break for Civale, who went 3-0 in four starts down the stretch with a 3.27 ERA and a 23-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 22 innings .
“He had a lot of bumps in the road this year, different things,” Francona said. “Once he was able to pitch with health, he looked like the guy that was going to make an All-Star team last year. Spins the ball very well.”
While opponents hit Civale’s cutters for four homers over his final two starts, his curveball was devastating after his return, with a swing-and-miss rate of 47.9 percent. His sinker was more effective than it had been all season, yielding just three hits and an average exit velocity of 84.8 mph.
“I think it’s a combination of a lot of things,” Civale said of the improvement, “but I think just trying to take it one pitch at a time and be focused mentally as much as I can. But there’s a lot of things that go into it.”
How Civale balances those pitches against a homer-heavy Yankees lineup — and with a backdrop of late-afternoon shadows at Yankee Stadium at his advantage like Bieber enjoyed for seven strikeouts over 5 2/3 solid innings in Game 2 — will be critical in a game where one poorly located cutter could give New York an early advantage and send a raucous crowd into a frenzy. If he uses offspeed and breaking balls at or below the bottom of the zone like other Cleveland starters have in this series, trusting catcher Austin Hedges to work the plan, Civale could keep the Yankees and their fans quiet and set up a well-rested bullpen to do the rest.
“I think everyone that was there [for the first two games of the series] saw what it’s like. It’s going to be crazy,” Civale said. “There’s going to be a lot of screaming, a lot of fans. But at the end of the day, it’s noise. It’s going to be my job to keep that focus on Hedgey and give it my all.”
Francona told Civale after Game 1 to prepare for this. After Cleveland’s Game 4 loss made his Game 5 appearance necessary, Francona also told him not to worry about looking over his shoulder at the bullpen — even though everyone else might be looking now that Bieber could potentially be an option to pitch on three days’ rest
“I just told him, ‘Hey, go pitch,'” Francona said. “You are probably going to see guys warming up in the ‘pen, and I said, ‘Don’t let it [get to you] — just pitch. I’ll come get you when I think it’s the right time.'”
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