BALTIMORE _ When Mike Clevinger was awarded the No. 4 spot in the Indians starting rotation this spring, he knew he'd have his work cut out for him to carry his weight in one of the best rotations in baseball.
Thus far, he's done that and more, but he's still far from satisfied.
Clevinger has a 1.75 ERA in four starts and just tossed the best outing of his career, a two-hit shutout against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday. That comes after his strong ending to last season in which he had a sub-1.00 ERA over his final 27 1/3 innings.
But to Clevinger, he's simply trying to hold up his end of the bargain in a rotation that also includes a two-time Cy Young Award winner (Corey Kluber), a top-5 finisher in Cy Young voting last season (Carlos Carrasco) and a starter who seemed to find his footing in 2017 and could be poised for the best season of his career (Trevor Bauer). And that group doesn't include a former All-Star currently on the disabled list (Danny Salazar).
Although Clevinger has been terrific on the mound dating back to the end of August last year, he still sees it as having something to prove every time he takes the mound.
"If you're sitting in class and everyone is making a 90 and you're making a 60 on the test, how good is that going to feel every single day?" Clevinger said. "Eventually you're going to at least get to that 80 grade. That's the cool thing about Klubes and Carrasco _ they're setting the bar so high that even falling just a little bit short, you're going to be pretty damn good."
Clevinger's lone blemish on his 2018 resume was a four-run inning in his previous start against the Toronto Blue Jays that squandered a four-run lead. Clevinger looked dejected after the game. Saturday's outing was partially about proving he could hold a lead. Through the first three innings, he was displeased with his start because he hadn't been efficient enough despite not yet allowing a single hit.
Being able to reverse that trend and last into the ninth inning _ he retired the final 14 batters he faced _ was the aspect that he was the most pleased with in the Indians' 4-0 win. He was, in effect, able to bury his last outing.
"I wanted them to know that I could hold their lead, I'm not going to lose focus," Clevinger said. "I won't say I lost focus, but I'd say the intent wasn't as strong the whole time. That what I tried to make a point of doing."
Clevinger has had a renaissance of sorts over the last several months. When he was acquired by the Indians in a deal for Vinnie Pestano in 2014, he barely had any resemblance of a routine. He was throwing every side session like it was Game 7 of the World Series. He was all adrenaline. He had talent, but it had yet to be reeled in and refined as it needed to be at the major-league level.
He still throws most of his side sessions like a mad man, because that's who he is, but he knows when to dial it back a notch. He worked on his between-starts routine and began to buy into them to a greater degree. He lifted weights barefoot all winter, which alleviated an ankle issue. He worked with the Indians to control his breathing, which was in turn a way to maintain his heart rate and adrenaline.
Clevinger has had the stuff, but it took all of the other, smaller facets to come together for him to reach this level. And now, from the Indians' perspective, that evolution has been fun to watch.
"That's one of the biggest developments that we've seen, is his ability to lock in on routines," Indians general manager Mike Chernoff said. "This is a guy who, when we first acquired him, didn't have routines and didn't believe in routines. It's been so fun to see him mature in that way.
"I don't know if it's having guys like Kluber or Carrasco or Bauer who have some of the best routines in front of him, or just the natural maturation, but you've seen this guy grow into a real big-league pitcher in terms of his routines, and it's been awesome to watch that."
For catcher Yan Gomes, the real progression has been with how Clevinger can control himself on the mound and navigate a longer outing. It isn't a mad sprint, arms flailing. It's a controlled jog with a nice pace.
"What's really cool is seeing the way his rhythm _ he gets really excited out there on the mound," Gomes said. "It's one of those things, seeing him calm himself down, because he's got tremendous stuff. But we've seen it to where guys have tremendous stuff but they can't quite get through it because these are big-league hitters and they're going to make adjustments as you go.
"He's been able to stick to game plans and throw his plus pitches out there. His progress and everything that he's doing has been really fun to watch."
