Indians' pitching puzzle presents game-to-game challenge

CLEVELAND — Over the next few weeks, what the Indians will be attempting with their starting pitching (or lack thereof) is relatively unprecedented. Zach Plesac and Shane Bieber are sidelined by injuries, and Aaron Civale is the only healthy, established starter who can consistently get deep into a game. So Cleveland will mix and match its pitching with a combination of young starters like Cal Quantrill and J.C. Mejia who are not quite stretched out beyond four or five innings, and relievers like Nick Sandlin, Kyle Nelson and Nick Sandlin who could work multiple frames on consecutive days. Most days manager Terry Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis won't know who is available to pitch the following game until that day's game is over. Nightly postgame meetings in the manager's office will morph into important strategy sessions. Francona said he can sleep easier at night as long as they've prepared for tomorrow before leaving the ballpark. "As long as we are organized before we get home, the going to bed part's OK," Francona said. "We talk through everything the night before just to make sure we're not missing anything and we're all on the same page. President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said each day requires the patience to strike a balance. "After we get through today's game, we can look at tomorrow and how we'll navigate tomorrow's game," Antonetti said. "Tito and Carl do a great job of not only looking at the game for today, but even within the game, thinking about the next couple of games as they're making pitching decisions." Willis said since Bieber's injury, figuring out the pitching puzzle has been a bit of a challenge because of the unpredictability of it all. "It's hard to script out a game because you never know if you say this guy can throw so many pitches or a certain number of innings, you don't know the score, where you are in the order when that time comes, so there has to be some flexibility there," Willis said. Willis said there's kind of a plan in place, but the difficulty comes in balancing the plan against winning the game at hand. "It's day to day," Willis said. "We show up on a daily basis to win today's game and take care of tomorrow when it comes. But it's always in the back of your mind of how we're going to get through the next few days." Willis credits Francona and the players for their resiliency and competitiveness in the face of this challenge, but wonders how sustainable the course they're on can be. "How far can we take this into the season? And I don't know that anyone knows that," Willis said. "But I think odds are it's not going to be October or certainly into October." Antonetti said the approach that Francona fosters from the first day of spring training has paid off during this recent period of uncertainty. "That mindset has been consistent from the day Tito arrived and it's something that, no matter what adversity we face, he continues to emphasize," Antonetti said. "To our team's credit, they continue to pull together and find a way to win games. Hopefully we can keep that going." A four-game sweep of Baltimore certainly gives the Indians hope that what they're attempting to accomplish is possible. "We'll take any success, any day we can," Francona said. "But I do think it helps with buy-in. We're going into Pittsburgh and we've got some things we're going to have to figure out every day. But it's OK when guys are playing like they're playing and giving the effort. We'll figure it out together."