CLEVELAND -- The Indians' starting rotation labored through the month of May without Mike Clevinger and Corey Kluber, but the club is inching closer to getting one of their best weapons back.

Clevinger is scheduled to pitch in a simulated game Saturday at the team’s complex in Goodyear, Ariz. Assuming everything goes well, Indians manager Terry Francona said that the right-hander will catch a flight back to Ohio to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus after the Clippers return home on Monday.

The 28-year-old made only two starts this season before being sidelined with an upper back strain on April 8. But in the short time the Indians when he was healthy, Clevinger was dominant, tossing 12 scoreless frames and allowing just two hits with 22 strikeouts. He was originally scheduled to go six to eight weeks without picking up a baseball, but he started playing catch just three weeks after the injury.

“I think that’s what helps it out a lot is because now it’s like I was hit with a pretty long timeline and now I know I’ll be back sooner than that,” Clevinger said before he left for Arizona. “So, it’s kind of a bright side I get to look forward to. Especially [because] an injury like this was not really a causation. It’s not whether it’s the work that I’m doing or whatever, it’s not really a pinpointed thing. It’s just kind of a freak incident.”

After the starting rotation collectively went 11-8 with a 3.69 ERA, 191 strikeouts and a 1.175 WHIP through 158 1/3 innings in March and April, it struggled in May, going 6-15 with a 5.14 ERA, 169 strikeouts and a 1.372 WHIP in 164 2/3 frames. Getting Clevinger back could help even out the numbers in June. The right-hander is eligible to be activated June 7.

Zimmer needs at least two weeks in Columbus

If Bradley Zimmer gets the green light Saturday afternoon to begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A, Francona said he’ll need about two weeks before the team begins the decision-making process of when the outfielder can get the call up to the big leagues.

“I’d say from what the medical people say, it’d be a minimum of two weeks to be where he’s ramped up and then you can make a decision not necessarily on health, but on baseball,” Francona said. “Now that’s probably the low end. So two, three weeks and then you make a decision. Like I said, all of a sudden it’s not a medical decision. It’s a baseball decision.”

Salazar update

Danny Salazar started throwing live batting practice to hitters for the first time on Tuesday and Francona said the right-hander has been making solid progress since then.

“His last time out was by far his best,” Francona said. “You keep hoping he builds because this is by far the best run he’s had.”

This date in Indians history

2003: Jody Gerut hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning to send the Tribe to a 5-4 victory over the White Sox.