PITTSBURGH -- When Shane Bieber went to the injured list on July 15, the big question for the Guardians became: How could the team’s pitchers step up to help patch a large hole in the rotation?

Replacing a workhorse like Bieber is a job too large for one arm to fill. Thankfully, in the early going, the Guardians have had multiple guys step up in big ways.

The latest piece in that effort was left-hander Logan Allen, who was recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday to start and spearheaded a second consecutive shutdown of the Pirates in a 10-1 win at PNC Park.

Allen was optioned to Triple-A at the end of June after impressing the Guardians with a 3.47 ERA in his first 12 MLB starts. Manager Terry Francona said the move was not as much of a statement about the tougher June that Allen had as it was a chance for him to “deload” after throwing 82 2/3 innings before the first half.

“We might hold him back a touch, but we’ll see how the game goes,” Francona said before the game on Tuesday. 

So how did it go? Nearly perfect.

Allen didn’t allow a hit through four innings and finished with one hit and one walk to eight strikeouts in five scoreless innings. It also helped he was staked to a quick five-run lead before he took the mound thanks to the Guardians’ offense teeing off on Pirates All-Star starter Mitch Keller early, including the first of Josh Naylor’s two home runs on the night to continue his amazing stretch.

As big as seeing no hits through four innings was, perhaps the biggest highlight of Allen’s start was his efficiency. Across his last two MLB starts, Allen worked 7 2/3 scoreless innings but was hurt by high pitch counts. He averaged 24 pitches per inning in that span, while on Tuesday he averaged 15 pitches per inning. Getting deeper will be crucial to covering lost innings from rotation regulars like Bieber and Cal Quantrill.

“I think just attacking guys and trusting more of my stuff on the plate,” Allen said of the key to that success. “I was able to land some offspeed stuff today, and I think that really helped my start today, getting ahead of guys a little better.”

Allen’s performance follows a bullpen game in what would have been Bieber’s turn on Monday. The relief corps banded together to allow only four hits across nine innings to shut out the Pirates and end a season-long four-game skid.

The effort was set up by Xzavion Curry, who allowed only one hit in three innings. Starting is no new task for Curry; across 2021-22, he started 40 of his 44 Minor League games, then made two starts for the Guardians, his only MLB appearances in his debut season.

But this season, he made 23 relief outings before getting his first start on Monday. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s been difficult,” Curry said of the transition to the bullpen. “I would say it’s been an adjustment, just preparing my body to be ready to come in in situations and not have the same amount of time as a starter.”

Though it could have been tempting to let Curry keep pitching and stretch him out with the way he was going, keeping him at the three innings allows Francona to deploy him again as early as Friday. Given how valuable Curry has been in long relief this season, with a 2.86 ERA in 24 appearances, the Guardians’ solution to filling a rotation spot right now doesn’t appear to be to start Curry.

“It doesn’t mean we can’t or won’t. We could start to stretch [Curry] out, and that may happen,” Francona said. “But … if you try to stretch somebody out and you have one bad inning, you have one thirty-pitch inning, now you’re looking at roster moves. It’s not quite as easy as you’d draw it up.”

Looking forward, after Aaron Civale’s turn in Wednesday’s series finale, the Guardians have an off-day. Then, they’ll start Gavin Williams on Friday and Tanner Bibee on Saturday before Sunday, which Francona said is still up for debate. 

“When we get back home after that day off, we’ve got about two weeks in a row,” Francona said, “so we’re probably going to have to figure something out.”

But after seeing what the bullpen and a rookie the team has high hopes for did to step up with Bieber out, what’s there not to be pretty confident about?