CLEVELAND -- Outside of Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac, the Indians had two big question marks in their rotation heading into the 2021 season. Triston McKenzie was the favorite to break camp with the team over the offseason and it was expected that Cal Quantrill would be the fifth starter, but Logan Allen beat him out for the spot.

Even though he didn’t earn that role on Opening Day, Quantrill has certainly proved he deserves to be a starter over the last month.

Quantrill has gone 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA (six earned runs, 36 innings) in his last six starts, which was punctuated with a seven-inning scoreless performance and a career-high 10 strikeouts in Cleveland’s 6-1 victory over Detroit on Friday night at Progressive Field.

“Outstanding,” acting manager DeMarlo Hale said of Quantrill’s efforts. “Attacked the zone with his fastball. He was in and out, up and down, east, west, north, south, and I thought him and [Austin] Hedges had a real solid game plan, as you can tell. … You talk about efficiency, just a great effort from him and really one that we needed. We got a little offense going that I think helped. So, just an outstanding effort from him.”

Aside from working around two baserunners in the first inning, Quantrill hardly had to break a sweat, as he cruised through his deepest outing of the season, tying his career high in whiffs (19, last done on May 25, 2019). Like his last few outings, his slider led the way, inducing the most swings and misses (seven) of all his offerings on the night. Over his previous six starts, Quantrill has held hitters to a .143 average against the slider. But his four-seamer wasn’t far behind, causing six whiffs, while his two-seamer was called for a strike six times.

“Yeah, I think the second inning we started establishing the four-seamer a little better,” Quantrill said. “I felt like today the two-seam and the four-seam were drastically different, and it made a difference going up in the zone.”

These are the starts the Indians have been used to getting over the last few seasons. The club has only known to rely heavily on its rotation each year and since Bieber, Civale and Plesac (though he’s now back on the active roster) all landed on the injured list, the starting crew hasn’t been nearly as dominant. That is, until Quantrill got comfortable in his new role after making the transition from the bullpen.

The more time that Quantrill has gotten in the rotation, the sharper he’s been. His numbers over his last six starts have been exceptional, but his last five have been even better.

Over his last five outings, he’s pitched to a 0.90 ERA, which is the second lowest in the Majors (trailing Baltimore’s Matt Harvey, 0.81) in that span. In Quantrill’s last two trips to the rubber, he didn’t give up an earned run and he became the first Cleveland starting pitcher to turn in five consecutive starts yielding one or fewer earned runs since Mike Clevinger did so in seven straight outings from Aug. 26, 2017 through April 8, 2018.

During that stretch, Quantrill hasn’t gotten consistent run support or defensive help, but on Friday, everything came together to allow him to dominate.

“Pitching with a lead is always better,” Quantrill said. “It does give you confidence with the top hitters. I think they recognize they have to put runs up on the board and maybe they start pressing. There’s something to be learned by guys who are real good at pitching with a lead that I’ve tried to emulate recently, but it’s great putting up four runs and it really makes the second and third time through the order much easier.”

Next year, the Indians will have three locks for the rotation once again in Bieber, Plesac and Civale. It’s most likely that McKenzie will, once again, get the first chance to be one of the two remaining starters. But this time, the team may not have as much to question when it comes to putting Quantrill in a starting role to open the year.

“Cal’s done a tremendous job filling in that role,” Bieber said prior to the game. “That was the conversation the team had in Spring Training, who’s gonna start and who’s gonna be in the bullpen. He ends up getting the bullpen role at the beginning of the season, dominated that, and then had to step up for us big time, and he has up to this point. It’s been awesome to watch and encouraging, for sure.”