Rookie Clevinger keeps his cool in tense 7th

CLEVELAND — It would have been easy for Indians rookie Mike Clevinger to lose his composure on the mound.

Instead, he recorded perhaps the biggest out of the Tribe’s 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays in the rubber match on Sunday at Progressive Field.

“That probably wouldn’t be the first situation I’d pick for him coming in, in relief,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “But sometimes when you do that, now Clevinger feels good. I think he already did, but he feels better. Every experience he gets is going to help him.”

The right-hander got plenty of experience when he entered in the seventh to face Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion. Clevinger was tasked with getting one of the game’s top home run hitters out with the bases loaded, two away and the Indians trailing by one.

“It definitely brought intensity to a new level,” Clevinger said. “Plus it has been like a playoff atmosphere for this whole series. Then with the runners on base, I just tried to stay as locked in as I could.”

Clevinger wasted no time, starting off with a slider that was called for a strike. After missing with a heater, Clevinger went back to his slider, which caught the edge of the strike zone, getting ahead in the count, 1-2.

That’s when things got interesting.

After a brief discussion …

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