HOUSTON -- When the Indians optioned J.C. Mejia to Triple-A before the All-Star break, they knew he’d likely be back again to start the fourth game of the second half of the season. But the team wanted him to continue to get work during the downtime, especially against lefties -- something that’s been his kryptonite all season, including Monday night.

Mejia set a career high with eight strikeouts in the Indians’ 4-3 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park, but he permitted four runs on seven hits with two walks and a hit batter, and he gave up the deciding two-run homer to lefty Yordan Alvarez in the fifth.

“There was a lot of traffic,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “There was a lot of bobbing and weaving. The big blow was obviously the home run. ... You know, that's a lot of traffic and he gave up four [runs], but he didn't wilt. Because they were pressuring him the whole game.” 

Entering Monday, Mejia had held right-handed hitters to a .178 average with a .549 OPS and one homer in 50 plate appearances. However, lefties had hit .314 with a .948 OPS and four homers in 78 plate appearances. In the series opener in Houston, Mejia gave up more base hits to righties (4-for-11) but gave up the 409-foot blast to Alvarez, helping the lefties collectively go 3-for-9.

Mejia started off his MLB career by throwing eight scoreless innings in four appearances (one start). But since then, he’s gone 0-5 with a 9.79 ERA in seven starts. When he was optioned to Triple-A to continue to get work through the All-Star break, the Indians were hoping he’d see some success against lefties, especially with his changeup.

“I think with his changeup becoming more of a pitch to left-handers and then [being] able to elevate his fastball by design, that’ll be good,” Francona said at the time.

His brief stop in Triple-A wasn’t exactly the fix he was looking for, as he gave up seven runs in just 2 1/3 innings on four hits (all homers) with the Clippers.  
 
“They told me to keep working hard,” Mejia said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero of the message from Francona, “to keep doing the same routine that I had, because whenever they need me, they will call me back to help the team win.”

In his time in the big leagues prior to his pitstop in Columbus, lefty hitters had hit .313 against the changeup, and the pitch is what resulted in the long ball by Alvarez in the fifth inning. The changeup had also induced the lowest putaway percentage (9.5) of any of his five offerings, entering Monday. 

With the improvement the Indians have seen in both Eli Morgan and Cal Quantrill, along with the return of Zach Plesac and Triston McKenzie’s big step forward last time out, four of the five spots in Cleveland’s rotation are locked in -- at least for now. Aaron Civale and Shane Bieber are both still slowly working their way through their respective rehab programs, leaving that fifth spot to Mejia for the time being. 

If some struggles continue, the Indians have Sam Hentges in Triple-A, who’s currently working on improving his heater. However, Mejia has shown enough to keep the club encouraged. And his career-high strikeout effort was another promising factor.  

“[Backstop Roberto Pérez] was trying to get him to be aggressive in the zone so he could spin the ball,” Francona said. “And not spin it off the plate necessarily. To your point, the eight strikeouts says a lot. Says the stuff is there.”  
 
“I think we were able to execute what we talked about before the game,” Mejia said through Rivero. “We focused on being aggressive and trying to focus on the game and executing my pitches, and I think we were able to execute that, and that’s part of the plan before the game.”

In his short time in the big leagues, Mejia has quickly learned what he’ll need to continue to improve to be able to be successful at this level. While he’s been thrown into a situation no one could’ve predicted for Cleveland this year, he’s made it clear to Francona just how badly he wants to succeed. And for the now, the Indians will continue to rely on him to figure out how to do just that.  
 
“When you’re out there and you got the call to face a good team -- let’s give it up, these guys are very good hitters,” Indians slugger Franmil Reyes said. “Just battling and fighting like he did, that’s really impressive and really [respectable] for all of us.”