Civale can't shake September struggles in KC

KANSAS CITY -- The mound hasn’t been as kind to Indians starter Aaron Civale since he was reinstated from the injured list earlier this month as it was at the beginning of the season, but the biggest thing he and the Indians want to focus on as the offseason approaches is the progression since his return.

Civale just barely avoided his fourth September loss with a no-decision in Cleveland’s 6-4 loss to the Royals on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, but he was hurt by the long ball once again, permitting four runs on four hits -- two homers -- in 5 1/3 frames.

“I thought he mixed his breaking ball very well, kind of kept them off balance,” acting manager DeMarlo Hale said. “I mean, they didn’t have a lot of hits off of him. … I thought his secondary pitches were much better this time around, especially his breaking ball -- his curveball.”

The curveball was Civale’s go-to pitch against the Royals, as he threw it 28 percent of the time -- more than any of his four other offerings. Traditionally, the right-hander’s curve usage had averaged 14.7 percent in his outings prior to the series opener, and he watched the success rate shoot up with the pitch, inducing six whiffs out of 12 swings.

“I think that was an area of emphasis going in,” Civale said. “Just talking through an attack plan against righties going into the week and just with the stuff I have, trying to mix it up and speed 'em up, slow 'em down, east to west. That was the attack plan going in and I think we executed it.”

The other positive -- albeit, a very miniscule takeaway -- was Civale avoiding his fourth loss of the month after he started the season leading the Majors with 10 wins through June 21, when he suffered his finger sprain. And his no-decision was a product of pure luck.

What started as a possible assist from Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield turned into a lucky break for the Indians, as his relay throw bounced directly off the rubber, causing it to pop straight up in the air instead of easily making it to the plate ahead of Oscar Mercado, who ended up scoring on Yu Chang's double to tie the game in the eighth and get Civale off the hook.

Cleveland fell behind for good in the bottom half of the frame when the Royals put up two runs against Bryan Shaw. But a no-decision isn’t much of a bright spot for Civale, who’s been struggling to find his groove since returning from the IL. Although he’s continuing to progress physically, he’s been unable to find the consistency with his location that he once had.

Civale has pitched to a 7.40 ERA (17 earned runs, 20 2/3 frames) and has not resembled the right-hander who was lights-out to start the season. In his first 15 starts before landing on the IL, Civale went 10-2 with a 3.32 ERA, while averaging 6 2/3 innings per start. In his five outings since returning from the injured list, he’s gone 1-3 with a 7.40 ERA, while averaging 4 1/3 innings per start. And after giving up 14 homers through his first 97 2/3 frames of the year, he’s permitted nine long balls in 20 2/3 innings since his return.

“Location of pitches,” Hale said in pinpointing Civale’s issue. “You have to stay away from certain zones and I think he’s missed some locations with his fastball. That’s pretty simple.”

But after the first home run by Andrew Benintendi in the first inning, Civale rebounded to retire the next seven batters he faced. It wasn’t until he left a splitter over the middle of the plate to Salvador Perez that he gave up the lead. But regardless of the outcome, Civale and the coaching staff are looking to take mistakes from each outing and use it as motivation heading into the offseason.

“There’s definitely things to learn from, be proud of coming back,” Civale said. “Doing that in season is definitely not the easiest thing to do. But I think there’s a lot of things to work on and that’s always a good thing.”