How many great starting pitchers does one team possibly need? Aaron Civale has officially declare himself one of them for the Indians tonight with a complete game almost-shutout of the Pirates.
Civale teetered on the brink of pitching a Maddux for most of the game, including 91 pitches to his name entering the ninth. He finally started to show wear and tear in that final frame when he allowed his first and only run of the game after allowing two hits and a sacrifice fly to plate a run and prevent a shutout.
Even with the ninth inning struggles — or as most pitchers call it, still a pretty good inning — Civale looked outstanding tonight.