Indians get rough injury update on starter Aaron Civale

Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona provided a rough injury update on starting hurler Aaron Civale. 

With the Cleveland Indians hoping to catch and then pass the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, their journey just got a bit trickier. On Monday night, star pitcher Aaron Civale left his start early due to a right finger injury. He’s since been placed on the Injured List.

Indians skipper Terry Francona said on Tuesday that his hurler will now meet with a hand specialist on Wednesday. On top of that, Francona made it quite clear that the team could be without Civale for a little while.

Aaron Civale is set to meet with a hand specialist on Wednesday

This is probably the last thing that Indians fans wanted to see. Civale is in the middle of a sensational campaign. He’s 10-2 on the year with a 3.32 ERA and 76 strikeouts. His 10 wins is tops in MLB.

He’s been such a dependable arm for Francona and his coaching staff. Now, though, everyone will be waiting to see what the hand specialist says. Should Civale be kept off the bump for an extended period of time, it would be disastrous for the Indians.

As things stand, Cleveland is 40-30 on the year, only two games back of Chicago for first place in the AL Central. This news on Civale comes a week after Cleveland ace Shane Bieber was also placed on the Injured List with a shoulder injury. It’s really been a rough stretch for Francona.

Having said that, Cleveland is still in a prime spot to potentially win the division later this year. In order for that to happen, however, the club will need both Civale and Bieber fully healthy and silencing batters like they normally do.