Bullpen day backfires in Indians’ loss to Sox

CLEVELAND — The Indians will not need a five-man rotation in the playoffs. The only problem right now is that the calendar has not yet flipped to October, Cleveland lacks a fifth starter and the team has yet to officially punch its ticket to the postseason dance.

The situation has left Indians manager Terry Francona a few pieces short in a complicated pitching puzzle. To date, Francona has found ways to navigate around the gaping hole in his rotation. On Saturday night, though, circumstances caught up with Cleveland in an 8-1 loss to the White Sox, and cost the Tribe a chance to clinch a postseason berth.

The Indians’ magic number now sits at two, putting Cleveland in position to potentially celebrate an American League Central championship on Sunday at Progressive Field.

“They’ve done the best job they could have,” said Indians catcher Chris Gimenez, referring to how Francona has handled the fifth spot. “Nobody really plans to lose two of your five starters in 10 days. Thankfully, it did happen in September, where we have plenty of people to kind of come up and fill that role. I think it’s a little unconventional, obviously, and it also might not be ideal to have bullpen days every fifth day.”

The two sidelined starters are Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco. Salazar has resumed throwing after sustained a forearm injury earlier this month, but he will return as a reliever in the playoffs, if he returns at all. Carrasco is done for the year with a non-displaced fracture in his right hand. The injuries have …

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