Puskas: Indians are armed to make a pennant run

You didn’t think the Indians were going to win out, did you?

The Tribe’s 14-game winning streak ended Saturday, thanks in part to a controversial replay review.

It was bound to happen sooner or later, even without the eighth-inning reversal from MLB replay officials.

The reality is the Indians’ first loss in what seems like forever was a indirect result of Friday’s 19-inning victory, which left their pitching depleted for Saturday.

But the run was fun while it lasted. And don’t worry — there is more to come because of the Indians’ almost embarrassing wealth of riches when it comes to starting pitching.

From one to five, the Indians’ rotation is unmatched in the American League. There may not be a National League team that has better starting pitching.

The Indians’ starters — Corey Kluber (8-7, 3.50), Carlos Carrasco (4-2, 2.56), Josh Tomlin (9-1. 3.21), Danny Salazar (10-3, 2.22) and Trevor Bauer (7-2, 3.02) — were dominant during the winning streak. When they go deep into games and produce one quality start after another, the Tribe has a better than average chance to win.

How good is this rotation when Kluber — who won a Cy Young Award in 2014 — has the “worst” numbers of the group, thanks to a couple of bad starts?

That pitching has enabled the Indians to overcome the loss of Michael Brantley for all but 11 games and Abraham Almonte for the entire season to date.

Brantley is the Indians’ best hitter and Almonte was a projected starter until his PEDs suspension came down in the offseason.

The contributions of Jose Ramirez (.296, 4 HR, 32 RBIs), Lonnie Chisenhall (.305, 5, 22) and Tyler Naquin (.317, 6, 17) have helped to salvage what could have been a disaster in the outfield, but this team is really built on starting pitching.

These Indians remind me of the Baltimore Orioles teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s, or the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s. Even when those teams struggled to score runs, the quality and depth of their starting pitching gave them an opportunity to win just about every day.

The Indians’ bullpen doesn’t look quite as good, but is that reality or is it just because of how good the starters have been?

Bryan Shaw (1-3, 4.55) and Zach McAllister (2-2, 4.10) are the relievers Tribe fans love to hate, but even with a few rough outings between them, they’ve combined for 63 strikeouts in 58 innings.

Baseball fans’ relationships with relief pitchers are notoriously fickle. Remember how hot and cold people felt about Paul Assenmacher, Eric Plunk and Paul Shuey in the 1990s?

They were not members of the Tribe’s 1988 Bullpen from Hell (hello, Jeff Dedmon and Chris Codiroli) and neither are McAllister, Shaw, Joba Chamberlain, Jeff Manship, Dan Otero, Tommy Hunter or Cody Allen. Most MLB teams would take this bullpen and run.

The Indians have a World Series-caliber rotation and above-average, power-armed relievers.

The only question is whether or not to add a bat or two before the trade deadline. I wouldn’t gut the farm system to do it, but a power-hitting outfielder or third baseman could be the final piece the Indians need for a run at the AL pennant.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com. Follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.