Aaron Civale suffered his first loss of the season Friday night as the Cleveland Indians offense went cold.
He is now 5-1 on the year in what has been a great season so far.
In fact, he is right with ace Shane Bieber in plenty of statistical categories.
Only one is way in Bieber’s favor and fans can guess that stat right away.
Always solid 🤞🏾😂 @AaronCivale https://t.co/MVPFBLnZCT pic.twitter.com/saQnhEeImQ
— Triston ❎ McKenzie (@T_eazy24) May 9, 2021
Innings and ERA
Civale and Bieber have each made eight starts in 2021.
The former is at 53 innings and the latter is only at 55.
So Civale is right there in terms of Terry Francona having faith in him to go deep in games.
His shortest outing of the year is 5.1 innings and he has logged at least seven innings on four occasions.
As for ERA, which is not a perfect stat, Civale is at 3.40 and Bieber is at 2.95.
So while Bieber has been striking out batters at a historic rate, he has not been perfect in limiting runs.
Both pitchers have also each allowed seven home runs on the season.
Limiting Baserunners in 2021
Bieber has actually allowed five more hits than Civale on the season and has also walked three more batters.
Bieber’s WHIP of 1.16 is also just a bit higher than Civale’s at 1.06.
But such small differences show how well Civale is doing this season.
We are comparing him to arguably the best pitcher in baseball and he is right there in nearly every single category.
Well, except one.
The Strikeout Total
Bieber is on an astronomical pace with 85 strikeouts so far in 55 innings.
That is good enough for a 13.9 K/9.
Civale is still second on the team with 39 strikeouts for a respectable K/9 of 6.6.
The only pitcher in the league keeping pace with Bieber thus far is Tampa Bay’s Tyler Glasnow.
He also has 85 strikeouts, but in one more start.
Gerrit Cole is next with 78.
After that there is a bit of a drop-off with Max Scherzer in fourth with 68.
Civale’s career-high is the 69 strikeouts he had in the shortened 2020 season.
Location, location, location…@JLEWFifty and @AlPawlowski break down what makes Aaron Civale so great on the mound. #OurCLE pic.twitter.com/2X0ji58uyY
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) May 8, 2021
He will break that mark in about a month or so and from there he can just focus on setting new career-highs in what will be his first true season in an MLB rotation.
Bieber is on a whole other plane of existence.
A Legitimate Sidekick
Zach Plesac stole the headlines this week when he nearly threw a no-hitter.
But Civale has been the more consistent pitcher and appears to be the true number two man in the rotation behind Bieber.
Plesac is still a close third.
The name Aaron Civale is not one Indians fans had in mind as an ace this season.
However, he is a worthy sidekick to Bieber and is another key reason why the Indians are poised for so much success this year, regardless of the offense’s struggles.
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