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Cleveland Indians: Josh Tomlin Is Hot At The Right Time

By Joe Russo

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The 2015 season looked to have been a lost season for the Cleveland Indians. Now, the team is succeeding and winning more and more. As recent success occurred, Josh Tomlin has improved while on the mound.

While the Cleveland Indians offense has surged in August, there’s been another under-the-radar factor in the past month’s success for the Tribe. Don’t look now, but Josh Tomlin has kept an injury stricken pitching staff afloat.

Tomlin was needed when Carlos Carrasco went on the DL and has been needed even more with Danny Salazar‘s illness. Tomlin, who missed all of 2012 with Tommy John surgery and most of the last couple of seasons due to an injury to his AC joint in his throwing shoulder, is the latest fifth starter for the Tribe.

We all remember Bruce Chen‘s two starts and his 9 earned runs in 6.1 innings all season. There was T.J. House, who put up a 13.15 ERA in four starts while giving up 19 earned runs in only 13 innings. For a while, it looked like Shaun Marcum might be the latest Mickey Calloway success story.

Instead, he had a 6.00 ERA over 6 starts and was cut loose as well. At least Cody Anderson has been respectable in 2015, but his shaky August (7.24 ERA) has meant that Tomlin’s return has been even more important to the Indians.

In four starts in 2015, Tomlin is 3-1 with a 3.08 ERA. In fact that 3.08 ERA is far below his career ERA of 4.78. Sure, there’s reason to believe that his streak will regress back to the mean and get closer to that 4.78 figure. He’s also already given up 7 home runs in those starts. Nevertheless, Tomlin has churned out four good starts at a time when the offense is actually providing the run support that’s been missing most of the season.

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There’s also plenty of reason to believe that Tomlin can continue to pitch well down the stretch for the Tribe, who somehow are still only 4.5 games back in the AL Wild Card. He has notched 26 strikeouts compared to just 2 walks. That is a great ratio for any pitcher, let alone a guy like Tomlin that does not have a single overpowering pitch and probably tops out on the radar at 90 mph.

He’s also made it through at least 6 innings in each of his starts and has made it through 7 in two of them, all while averaging only 94 pitches per start. For a control pitcher and one coming off of a serious shoulder injury, those are encouraging numbers. It shows that Tomlin is attacking the strike zone and pitching efficiently.

No, Tomlin will not be the reason that the Indians make the post season. However, he can be the reason they at least stay in the race. With the way the fifth starter spot has been in 2015 and the latest rash of injuries to the Tribe rotation, Tomlin will make a difference if he keeps this up.

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