Tribe places Kluber on IL; no timetable for return

CLEVELAND -- The Indians have officially lost a second starting pitcher to the injured list.

On Friday, before the Indians' 2-1 win over the Mariners, the team placed Corey Kluber on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday, with a fractured right ulna and recalled right-hander Jon Edwards from Triple-A Columbus.

Kluber was struck in the right forearm by a 102.2 mph line drive from Brian Anderson in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to the Marlins and an X-ray in Miami revealed a non-displaced fracture. The 33-year-old was re-examined at the Cleveland Clinic on Thursday by Dr. Steven Maschke, and X-rays and a CT scan confirmed the original diagnosis.

According to Francona, Kluber will be in a cast for the next three weeks and will be X-rayed once a week to see how the bone is healing. While there is no set timetable for his return, surgery is not required at this time.

“The first week is really vital that he keeps it elevated as much as he can, keeps it away from getting jostled, so we’re not going to have him in the dugout,” Francona said. “Because the last thing that we want to do is take something that is a non-surgical healing into a surgical. So, we need to be cognizant of that and respect that. After approximately three weeks, the cast comes off. We’ll see where the healing is and then what the doctors say moving forward he’s able to do.”

Kluber had gone 2-3 with a 5.80 ERA in his first seven starts of the 2019 season, averaging 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings prior to being sent to the injured list for the third time in his nine-year career.

“[Kluber] just said, he goes, ‘This is the hand I was dealt. Gotta play it,’” Francona said. “My guess is -- it’s not a guess -- when they give him the go-ahead to do something, he’ll do it like crazy. Whether it’s lower-half or whatever, he’ll get after it like he always does.”

Edwards broke camp with the Indians out of Goodyear, Ariz., and posted a 1.80 ERA in six appearances (five innings) for the Tribe before getting optioned to Triple-A on April 13. In Columbus, the 31-year-old has held batters to an .050 batting average against while pitching to a 1.42 ERA in five outings (6 1/3 innings).

What does this mean for the rotation?

With both Kluber and Mike Clevinger (upper back strain) on the injured list, here’s a look at how the Indians' rotation will shake out over the next few days:

Saturday: Carlos Carrasco

Sunday: Cody Anderson

Monday: Trevor Bauer

Tuesday: Jefry Rodriguez

“So we bumped Trevor back a day to split up Cody and Jefry,” Francona said. “Just because Cody’s not altogether stretched out yet and we don’t want to beat up our bullpen, either. So that was the reasoning there. Obviously, we have to make some moves to get there, but that’s our five guys.”

Tito to have team meeting

Francona said his plan was to have a brief meeting with his team after batting practice on Friday as the team looks to battle through yet another round of injuries.

“One of the first things I tell them at Spring Training is how we handle adversity kind of defines -- goes in large portions to how your season goes,” Francona said. “Now we’re getting it thrown at us, so [it's] how we can handle it, and I don’t see where teams [will] come in and feel sorry for us. … This can be our time to shine or we can feel sorry for ourselves and lose. We want to make sure we scratch and claw and do everything we can so we can get No. 1.”

Plutko heads to Columbus

Adam Plutko, who has been sidelined since the start of the year with a right forearm strain, is officially on his way to Columbus, according to Francona. The right-hander worked three innings in Arizona and threw 10-12 more pitches in the bullpen after his outing before he was cleared to make his way to Triple-A.

Clevinger continues to progress

Francona said that Clevinger would be throwing at 90 feet on Friday. Although he is way ahead of schedule, the manager said the right-hander will need all of the 60 days he’s down on the injured list to get back to 100 percent.

“I just think it’s amazing that he’s doing as well as he is and it sure makes the glass look more half-full than half-empty when you see him out there doing it,” Francona said. “But again, we’ll do it right and he’ll have milestones to accomplish and then move on. And that’s what he’ll do.”

This date in Indians history

1975: The Indians scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, capped by a Buddy Bell two-run single, in a 6-1 win against Baltimore.