Clevinger fans career-high 12 in 7 innings

CLEVELAND -- Not only did Indians starter Mike Clevinger showcase his increased fastball velocity and set a new career high in strikeouts, but the 28-year-old right-hander provided a taste of just how dominant this starting rotation could be.

Behind the roaring sellout crowd at Progressive Field, Clevinger felt an added level of excitement in the Tribe’s home opener on Monday afternoon. And his performance did not disappoint. Clevinger tossed seven stellar frames, allowing just one hit and fanning 12 in a 5-3 victory over the White Sox.

“I thought he was terrific,” manager Terry Francona said. “I mean, he was raring back. He was letting it eat. He was just missing on so many pitches. I was kind of worried his pitch count [106 on the day] was going to get up there pretty quick. Then, he had a couple short innings so he could get us to the seventh. I thought he was really good. It's not easy to do anything in that weather. But he was out there just letting it eat, man. He just looked really strong the entire game.”

Clevinger worked on the speed of his fastball over the offseason and he has said that his average velocity will be the main focus of this season. Although he said it wasn’t quite up to where he wanted it to be on Monday, the average of his 61 four-seamers was 94.8 mph, which was 1.2 mph higher than the average of the pitch in 2018.

“It was a tick down today from what it has been through spring,” Clevinger said. “It’s something we’ve been working on this whole time, and I think even in my last outing of spring, I was averaging 96 something and today it was just under 95 something, so cold weather did play a little bit of a factor, but not much.”

Clevinger entered Spring Training with a focus on that velocity, but he didn’t quite see the results he wanted. Through five appearances (four starts), he allowed eight runs on 19 hits, including three homers through 16 2/3 innings, which resulted in a 4.32 ERA. Although his stuff looked sharp despite the numbers, Clevinger was left slightly concerned heading into the regular season.

“The spring, it was more so not trusting the results of spring, there was a lot of back-side singles and a lot of bloop hits, and a lot of weird routines that went into the spring, so it was kind of hard for me,” Clevinger said. “I had to really stay focused that it was going to work, that it has been the process that we trusted and got us thus far, and to stick with it. So it was good to see results today.”

Monday marked the sixth double-digit strikeout game of Clevinger’s career and his third against the White Sox. If the home opener was a taste of what the Tribe can expect from Clevinger this season as the No. 4 starter, it gives a glimpse of how powerful the rotation overall could be this season.

“Clev got to a point last year that was really impressive and then he shows up this year stronger, ready to take another step,” Francona said. “That doesn’t happen without guys wanting to be really good. We’re pretty fortunate and we know it. Every one of our starters wants to be really good and they get after it. They carry a big load. You’ve seen it. They never seem to be running on empty. That’s because of them.”