CLEVELAND (AP) ¡ª Trevor Bauer in
their postseason rotation.The next step will come Friday night against the
Boston Red Sox in his first appearance since breaking his right leg last
month.Indians manager Terry Francona said Bauer will pitch a ¡°couple of innings¡±
and then throw in the bullpen to increase his pitch count.Francona wants Bauer
to make two additional starts during the regular season. The right-hander is
expected to start Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox and will likely pitch
again the last weekend of the season in Kansas City.¡°To give him a chance to
start
Shane
Greene Jersey , we felt like he needed to have three outings,¡± Francona
said. ¡°So this was the way to do it. Getting him back is great. His goal and
ours is to see if he can start.¡±The Indians hope Bauer can build up his pitch
count by the time the Division Series begins Oct. 5. Using him as a reliever is
another option.¡°Having him in the bullpen is still really positive,¡± Francona
said. ¡°We asked him for his honesty on how he is feeling and we¡¯ll give him our
feedback. But this was the best way to do it.¡±Bauer has been sidelined since he
was struck on the lower leg by a line drive off the bat of Chicago¡¯s Jose Abreu
on Aug. 11. He was diagnosed with a stress fracture of his right fibula.Bauer
has gone through a rigorous throwing program to return from the injury. He began
by playing catch from his knees while wearing a walking boot. Bauer gradually
progressed to throwing off the mound and faced hitters Tuesday in a three-inning
simulated game.¡°He¡¯s got himself in a position where he¡¯s jumping right into
games,¡± Francona said. ¡°Where you don¡¯t have to worry about his arm. He¡¯s giving
himself every chance possible by the way he attacked his rehab.¡±Bauer is 12-6
with a 2.22 ERA in 25 starts and was named to his first All-Star team.Francona
said rookie Shane Bieber will relieve Bauer in Friday¡¯s game. Mike Clevinger,
another candidate for the postseason rotation, will start Saturday.Corey Kluber
will start on Monday and Saturday of the final week to line up for Game 1 of the
Division Series. PHOENIX ¡ª The Cubs have played some of their best baseball here
in crunch time, a stretch that has taken a big bite out of the Diamondbacks¡®
playoff chances.The Cubs will enter Day 28 of a string of 30 straight days in
which games were scheduled (if not necessarily played) with the first of a
three-game series at Arizona on Monday.The sustained activity has not seemed to
bother them. They are having a little fun with it, in fact.Article continues
below ...Anthony Rizzo wore his uniform on the plane for a makeup game in
Washington on Thursday, which would have been an off day but for the persistent
rain that forced two postponements the previous weekend. The Cubs won.Ben
Zobrist, who is third in the NL in hitting, rode his bicycle in uniform to
Wrigley Field on Sunday, a 2-1 loss to
Cincinnati.Still
Sparky
Anderson Jersey , the Cubs have won three of their last four games and 14
of their last 18 series as they send right-hander Kyle Hendricks (11-11) out to
face Arizona left-hander Patrick Corbin (11-5) in the first game of the
series.The Diamondbacks have not had as much success in the make-or-break
portion of their season. They have played 11 straight games against division
leaders and will have at least two more, inasmuch as the Cubs (87-62) enter with
a 2 1/2-game lead over Milwaukee in the NL Central.The Diamondbacks lost three
of four at home to Atlanta last weekend before going 2-5 on a road trip to
Colorado and Houston, dropping them 4 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading
Rockies with 12 games remaining.It has been a drastic reversal for an Arizona
team that led or was tied for the NL West lead for 125 days this season and was
still in first place on Sept. 1 before a third straight final at-bat loss in a
four-game series to the Dodgers in Los Angeles.The Diamondbacks (78-72) had not
been fewer than seven games above .500 since June 10 before their 5-4 loss at
Houston on Sunday.The Dodgers and Rockies begin a three-game series in Los
Angeles on Monday.¡°We can¡¯t get caught scoreboard watching,¡± Arizona reliever
Brad Ziegler said. ¡°We have to win our games. If we win our games, things will
take care of themselves.¡±The Diamondbacks¡¯ bullpen, which was so efficient in
the first five months, has given up 43 runs in its last 50 innings, and manager
Torey Lovullo has used right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano in the last two save
situations instead of normal closer Brad Boxberger. Arizona also took a hit to
its starting rotation when Clay Buchholz was shut down for the rest of the
season because of elbow soreness he felt while warming up for scheduled start
Thursday in Colorado.The Cubs have made their bullpen work even without closers
Brandon Morrow and Pedro Strop. Morrow, who has 22 saves, has been on the
disabled list since mid-July with a bone bruise. He threw a simulated game
Saturday and could be activated for the Arizona series, manager Joe Madden
said.Strop, who had 13 saves after taking over for
Morrow
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suffered a season-ending left hamstring injury while attempting to beat out a
double play grounder in Washington on Tuesday.Since, the Cubs have gotten saves
from Randy Rosario, Jorge De La Rosa and Steve Cishek. Both Rosario and De La
Rosa had the first of their careers. Their last five saves have been from five
different pitchers, including Jesse Chavez and Strop, the first time the Cubs
have done that since 1991.¡°Everyone knows it¡¯s the ninth inning,¡± said Cishek,
who earned the save in Saturday¡¯s 1-0 victory over Cincinnati as the third
pitcher in the ninth inning.¡°We just try to treat it like any other
inning.¡±Corbin, who has a 3.05 ERA, is on the way to a career year, even if the
victory totals don¡¯t show it. He is third in the league in strikeouts (230),
fourth in WHIP (1.03), tied for sixth in the league in quality starts (18) and
seventh in ERA. His ratio of strikeouts to walks is
5.48:1
Michael
Fulmer Jersey , third in the league.Corbin has won five of his last six
decisions and has made seven quality starts in his last eight, with 64
strikeouts against five walks in that span. He is 5-1 with a 3.68 ERA in seven
career appearances, six starts, against the Cubs and beat the Cubs in his first
start after the All-Star game, giving up six hits and one run in seven innings
with nine strikeouts and no walks. He is 7-3 with a 3.14 ERA in 15 home starts
this season.Hendricks, who has a 3.71 ERA, has won five of his seven decisions
since a 5-1 loss to Arizona on July 24. He has given up a career-high 21 homers
this season but has kept the ball in ballpark much better during his recent
successful stretch, giving up only three homers in 54 2/3 innings and only one
in his last 44 innings.Hendricks has faced Arizona only three times, going 1-1
with a 3.24 ERA. He won his only previous start at Chase Field, in 2016, when he
led the league in ERA and finished third in the NL Cy Young voting.