Back from big leagues, Clevinger shines

Some say a first cup of coffee will put hair on a man's chest. That's pretty much what Mike Clevinger experienced during his first two weeks in the Major Leagues.

"It was an eye-opener, definitely that," he said with a laugh. "I think the first sip of coffee was a growing experience."

While the Indians' seventh-ranked prospect had a tough stint in the big leagues, he's been successful since returning to the International League. On Tuesday night, Clevinger gave up three hits over seven scoreless innings before Triple-A Columbus dropped a 1-0 decision to Rochester at Frontier Field.

"I just felt like a student the whole time," he said. "I think now getting more into my mechanics and finding more of myself, it will be a different story next time."

Clevinger compiled an 8.79 ERA over 14 1/3 innings in three starts with Cleveland. The 25-year-old right-hander struck out 13 and issued seven walks before he was sent back to Columbus on June 2.

"You can't quit. I didn't feel too defeated," he said after striking out five and walking three. "Again, I feel like I can adapt and grow and learn. I learned a lot while I was there and I think I took that message down here and tried to replicate it and get back up there."

Clevinger persevered against the Red Wings after getting hit by Danny Santana's comebacker on his fourth pitch of the night. 

"I don't really know what happened. I just turned around and next thing I know, I got hit in the ankle," he said. "I'm going to be OK. I think it was 116 [mph] off the bat. It was a fastball outside that went up and he crushed it back at me, but I don't think I'm going to miss any time."

With his ankle numb, Clevinger walked Kennys Vargas to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the first. But he struck out Eddie Rosario and fielded Logan Schafer's grounder to get out of the jam.

 "[Got out of it by] not panicking," he said. "Just try to go back to ground-floor things and just focus on the next pitch."

Clevinger did calf raises and walked around between innings as he tried to loosen up his ankle. The Florida native didn't allow another hit until Wilfredo Tovar knocked a two-out double to left in the seventh.

"I would say it all just goes back to being able to repeat my mechanics and the consistency thing," he said. "I was able to locate the pitches where I wanted to until the hanging curveball in the seventh."

Around the callup, Clevinger has posted strong numbers in his first Triple-A season. He lowered his ERA to 2.75 and has 54 strikeouts against 23 walks over 45 1/3 innings in nine unbeaten starts.

"It's all refining," he said. "It's all refining, starting with the fastball command. The more you get the fastball command, the better everything else is going to play, the better feel you're going to have for every other pitch."

Rochester starter Tommy Milone matched Clevinger, limiting the Clippers to three hits and a walk while fanning eight over seven innings. But the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the ninth.

Rosario drew a leadoff walk, took second on Tovar's groundout and raced home on a two-out single by Twins No. 10 prospect Adam Walker. The walk-off hit made a winner of J.T. Chargois (1-0), who pitched around a hit in the top of the ninth.