CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians’ starting rotation depth is being tested once again as right-hander Ben Lively exited Monday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers with right forearm tightness. The timing couldn’t be worse, as Lively had been cruising through three scoreless innings before signaling to trainers that something wasn’t right.

“He comes out after 45 pitches with right forearm tightness,” Joe Noga explained on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. “He’s getting checked out this morning. We’ll know more by the time we get to the ballpark later on this evening. But it doesn’t look promising for Ben Lively.”

This isn’t the first time Lively has dealt with this issue. In his previous start against Washington, he was pulled after just 65 pitches despite pitching effectively into the sixth inning. The recurring nature of the problem suggests this could be more than just a minor setback.

Paul Hoynes acknowledged the potential impact: “It would really be a blow to this rotation if Lively has to go in the IL. But in the long run, that might be the best thing. It’s still early in the season. They can get this taken care of.”

Lively has been a foundational piece of Cleveland’s pitching staff for the last two seasons. Last year, he made 29 starts, pitched 151 innings, and posted a 13-10 record. His durability and consistency have been invaluable to the Guardians, which makes this potential absence all the more concerning.

As the team awaits more detailed information on Lively’s condition, attention turns to their options at Triple-A Columbus. The immediate need will likely be bullpen reinforcement, with a starter not required until next Tuesday in Minnesota thanks to an upcoming off day.

Several candidates could fill the bullpen void in the short term. Andrew Walters, who impressed down the stretch last season, has been effective at Columbus with a 1.17 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 7⅓ innings across eight appearances. Nic Enright, who has overcome both Hodgkin’s disease and recent injuries, has been perfect in Columbus with no runs allowed in six innings over five appearances.

If Lively requires an extended absence, the Guardians have intriguing rotation options as well. Slade Cecconi, acquired from Arizona in the Josh Naylor trade, has begun a rehab assignment with Columbus after dealing with an oblique injury. Lefty Doug Nikhazy, who made his MLB debut against Boston on April 26th, has shown promise with 28 strikeouts in 25 innings at Triple-A.

Another possibility is Kolby Allard, who delivered three scoreless innings in relief of Lively on Monday. His versatility and experience make him a candidate to slide into the rotation if needed.

The next few days will be crucial as the Guardians evaluate Lively’s condition and make decisions that could impact their pitching staff for weeks to come. For a team that has relied heavily on pitching during their strong start to the season, navigating this challenge could define their ability to maintain momentum in a competitive AL Central race.

Want to hear more detailed analysis about Lively’s injury and the Guardians’ pitching options? Don’t miss the full episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast with Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes, where they break down all the latest developments from Progressive Field.

Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.

Podcast transcript

Joe Noga 0:05Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. The Guardians come away with A5. Nothing victory in the series opener against the Brewers at Progressive Field. Stephen Vogt before the game said, you know, we owe him a little bit for for what they did to us last year up in in.In Milwaukee, when the the Brewers took all three games in that series, sort of a little bit of payback as they they beat probably one of their best pitchers in in Freddie Peralta on the mound. He looked like he was in, you know, good shape until.Jose Ramirez sort of took it upon himself to to use the legs and and and get in in position to to score some runs. What did you see once Jose took it upon himself to to sort of take the game over?

Paul Hoynes 0:56Yeah, Joe, that was. And we haven’t seen that for a while from Jose. That was really, that was, that was fun to watch. I mean, you know,. It’s. It’s a scoreless game going into the bottom of the fourth inning, Jose with one out singles.Steal second, steals, steals third. Santana draws a walk,. Naylor draws another walk, and Gabriel Arias, who’s just having really a breakout season. Joe double s over, double s to the wall and center, three runs score and the guard.The audience are off and running and Jose never really stopped either. He. He stole another base. What’s he got? 255 for his career. So he he was on fire last night.

Joe Noga 1:45Yeah, 255 for his career moves past Terry Turner, who played, you know, back when you covered him in the early 1900s for the Indians, I believe he played what, 1904 to 1918?.

Paul Hoynes 2:00Yeah, he played a long time.

Joe Noga 2:02Long time ago, so you know you guys were before typewriters. He moves past Terry Turner into sole possession of third place on the Guardians all-time steals list. He’s 24 steals behind Omar Vizquel for 2nd place.Of course, Kenny Lofton in first place with 452 steals. I think. I think his numbers are are pretty pretty safe out there as the all-time leader in that category in Cleveland. But you know Jose can can at least move into second place probably by the end of this season if he if he keeps up.The pace and stays healthy. We know that you know numbers like that and and you know, milestones and achievements like that aren’t really at the forefront of his mind., But but you can kind of tell once he got on base, he’s like, hey, I can, I can get another base or two here. Why?. Why not keep going?It was sort of in the game plan, forum.

Paul Hoynes 3:00Yeah, Joe, that is, you know, Milwaukee came in as the, you know, leading the leading the big leagues in in stolen bases with over 50 steals on, you know, Jose made, you know, kind of beat them at their own game last night. Just really a dominating performance on a base.And you know, the thing I like Joe is. I mean, you could see he sensed that this was, you know, the kind of offense is flattened out., You know, they scored one run in Saturday and Sunday again in losses to the Phillies. You could just feel that he that he needed to do something.Kind of to light the fuse on this offense and that’s what he did. He took over the game with his legs, you know, in the in the 5th inning, I mean, in the 6th inning when they get the ad, you know, they make it 4 nothing. He walks, takes second on a wild pitch and steals third again and then comes around and scores.

Joe Noga 3:59Yeah, I stole the third without, without even a throw. Poor William Contreras couldn’t get the ball out of his glove. And then a nice piece of hitting by Kyle Manzardo plates him. There. It’s,. You know, another manufactured run,. You know, courtesy of Jose Ramirez. Like you, said,. It’s guys like Jose Ramirez. No.

Paul Hoynes 4:03OK.

Joe Noga 4:19It’s time to take over. It’s like a Donovan Mitchell 4th quarter, you know, they know when it’s their time and when they need to make a move and the team takes their cue from them and and that was really sort of what, what Jose was probably thinking in that moment. And and it it really worked out so.Had a hand in basically, you know all the run scoring in that game by opening the door there. Just, you know, the walk by Carlos Santana as well. 900th Walk extended his on base streak. Right now, I think he’s up to like.

Paul Hoynes 4:56Sure.

Joe Noga 4:5914 games, something like that, but he’s one of only two Guardians players all time to to reach the 900 walk level, joining Jim Tomy.

Paul Hoynes 5:09You think about that, Joe, 900 walks. How long do you have to play to to get 900 walks? I mean, that’s that number just kind of,. I’ve been thinking about that all. All morning. That number just stuck in my head. I mean, 900 walks,. That’s like,. How many seasons is that?.

Joe Noga 5:24But, but that’s only that’s 900 walks only with Cleveland. He’s done. He. He’s what? He’s at, like, almost 1300 walks total. I think he’s 6 shy of 1300 walks for his career. So that’s that’s even more than that.

Paul Hoynes 5:24I mean, it’s.Yeah.Yeah, I mean, it just shows you what an incredible eye this guy has and just how patient he is and just his knowledge of the strike zone. Because, I mean, there’s been at least two or three years where he’s, you know, his walk to to strikeout ratio is always, you know, just about, you know.A dead even., But there’s been several years where he’s he’s walked more than he struck out for a season.

Joe Noga 6:05Yeah, between between Carlos Santana and Jose Ramirez, just the ability to get on base and the ability to to to affect games in ways other than driving the ball out of the ballpark has has been a calling card for both of them throughout their entire careers.Santana, you know, you talk about that 900 walks with Cleveland, 1300 walks practically with, you know, within his his Major League career. I mean that 400 walk difference when he’s not with Cleveland, there are there are guys who play 16 years and don’t get 400 walks total in in their careers. That’s how that that’s how impressive he.He is. So you know, in in this day and age where the the three true outcomes are are such a a a big deal for a lot of hitters. Santana, definitely a throwback in that regard. All right, we we definitely have to talk about the the big news coming out of that game last night.Ben Lively was cruising through three innings, scoreless and only given up three base runners, and he comes out after 45 pitches with right forearm tightness. He’s getting checked out this morning. We’ll know more by the time we get to the ballpark later on this evening, but you know.Doesn’t look promising for Ben Lively, and it was something that’s been bothering him now. At least two starts because he came out of his start in Washington when he was cruising along into the 6th inning and only 65 pitches. So it’s something that the club was aware of and they they pulled him out of the game.Before he could get too deep and and and you know, make things worse, yesterday.

Paul Hoynes 7:45Yeah, Joe, it would be really a a a blow to this offense. I mean to this rotation if Lively has to go on the IL. But you know, in the in the long run that might be the best thing. Still early in the season. They, you know, get this taken care of.But you know, this is a guy that made, you know,. He was like the the foundation of the rotation last year, 29 starts, 151, innings, 13 and 10. You know,. He just took the ball almost every time they gave it to him. I know early in the year he did have some physical problems. They really never told us what.What it was, and now we know it was, it was probably the link to the forearm issue, but he he I don’t. He didn’t go on the IL last year. If I if I remember right., So maybe he can. You know they can slow play him for a little bit and get him back into the rotation.

Joe Noga 8:31No, you didn’t.Yeah,. But towards the end of the year it seemed like they were trying to do maintenance with him and you know, only pitching him a certain amount and that kind of thing. Too. So you don’t want to mess too much with the any inflammation in that forearm because that can lead to elbow issues. And.

Paul Hoynes 8:45Yeah.

Joe Noga 8:56You would lose him for the remainder of the season if if something happens in the elbow at any point he has to go for. For surgery. That’s, you know, these are the all all of these are the logical next steps that you take in your brain when you when you hear you know, he comes out of the game with some sort of forearm tightness so.Yeah, I I would imagine a an injury list stint is probably in his future. They could make that move as early as today. If they do that, they’re likely to bring up some support for the bullpen until they would need him again.In the rotation, these are all, you know, big, big leaps forward. Obviously we don’t know for sure what’s going on with him, and we won’t get confirmation until later., But let’s let’s speculate. Let’s play that game and say Ben Lively does go on the injured list. Let’s say they don’t need a starter until next.Tuesday, When they’re in Minnesota, when you know, with the off day, things catch up at that point. So you know a candidate to come up for the bullpen right now who who looks like somebody who could be be joining the club.From Columbus, if if that’s the the direction they go.

Paul Hoynes 10:15Yeah, Joe,. I think the kind of, you know, name that jumps out to me is Andrew Walters, who pitched really, really well for them down the stretch last year and in the postseason he had a, you know, was set back in spring training with a a shoulder injury.And just a tight shoulder. And then I think he had another injury at Columbus, maybe another tightness, some tightness in his shoulder., But he’s he’s made 8 appearances at Columbus 1.17 Uh A, you know, 13 strikeouts and seven and two third innings.You know, he seemed if he, you know, he last pitched, I think May 10th. So you know he would seem to be a guy if they feel confident in his health that they could bring up and you know kind of bridge the gap in the in the bullpen until.You know Lively’s turn into rotation comes up.

Joe Noga 11:07Another guy coming off of an injury that’s in Columbus right now is Nick Enright. That’s a guy who had had had a couple of setbacks and was coming along slowly, but he’s made a few appearances out of the bullpen as well.

Paul Hoynes 11:24Yeah, and he’s pitched very well. He’s 5 appearances,. No ERA. I mean, he hasn’t. Hasn’t a lot of run in six innings, 4 strikeouts, 5 walks, 100 or 125 batting average. Against. It’s a guy that a really good story. Here, Joe. You know,. He’s battled, you know.Hash.Disease. He’s come back from that. He had, you know,. He was in big league camp this spring but had a I think he had a lat problem or something. Was a shoulder or lat problem that really, you. Know, curtailed his activity with the Big league club. But he seems to be healthy. Now, so.

Joe Noga 11:55Mhm.

Paul Hoynes 12:05He’s he’s sure. I would think he’s a definitely another candidate.

Joe Noga 12:09Yeah, more of a long shot would be a guy like a Franco Aleman who had sports hernia surgery and was sidelined during spring training as well. He’s made a few appearances in Columbus, but you probably think you would. They would want him to to get a little more activity under his belt.Game activity, at least before calling him up., So there are possibilities down there at Columbus in order to fill out the bullpen until lively spot in the rotation comes along when that happens.Could it be time to see maybe, perhaps a Slade Sacconi, or bring back a Doug Nikhazy?

Paul Hoynes 12:52Yeah, I think both those guys are legit candidates, Joe, if if they do make this move with with Lively, you know, Sacconi just started his rehab assignment. Well,. I shouldn’t say just started. He’s made three starts for, for the for the Clippers at Columbus. Oh, and two with a 4.85.ERA 10 strikeouts in 13 innings, 255 batting average against. So you know this is a guy, obviously, that they’d like to get a look at. They traded Josh Naylor to Arizona for him, and he’s been, you know,. He opened a year on the IL with a.Oblique injury. So they really haven’t put their eyes on him. A lot. So you know,. That’s a guy. I think that that could start in. And like you said, Doug Nikhazy, a lefty that we saw, you know, make his big league debut earlier this, I think. Against what in the first game of the Boston doubleheader, maybe.

Joe Noga 13:49Yeah, it was April 26th against Boston, and he he gave up like five runs in in a few innings, yeah.

Paul Hoynes 13:50We.Yeah.He got knocked around a little bit, but he’s, you know, he had a great camp and you know, he seems to, you know,. He’s made six starts at Columbus, one and two, 468 ERA, 28 strikeouts and twenty-five innings.265 batting average against. So yeah, you know, 28 strikeouts, 12 walks. So you know,. That’s pretty good ratio. So yeah,. I mean he’s,. I I would think they’d like to get another look at him as well.

Joe Noga 14:28Yeah, it’s an opportunity for for one of those guys, possibly around Tuesday of next week when lively spot in the rotation will be coming up. So we’ll keep an eye just on that to to see what the.What the developments are in that regard? All right, I got to mention, you know what happened yesterday when, when Lively did come out of the game, he came out to warm up, to start the 4th inning and.Almost immediately signaled to the trainers and came off the mound and at that point it was a stand around and wait as the Guardians made the call of the bullpen and Jacob Junus was the guy that they called. This is what the third time this year that a Guardians reliever has had to sort of, you know, jump up early in the game.And get ready and head out to the to the field to to warm up, not in the bullpen, but warm up right in front of everybody on the on the game mound with God and everybody looking at him. Not their, not their normal sort of way of going about things, but Jacob Junus handled it.As as as a pro, as as Stephen Vogt said after the game, he he went out there through a scoreless inning after loading the bases, got the first two outs of the inning and then gave up a hit and you know, a couple of walks or a couple of hits and a walk and you know, got out of the inning.Without, you know, thanks to a nice play by Jose Ramirez., But for Jacob Junus, he said he he sort of had a chance to chug a Red Bull and then, you know, go through his. He sort of took his time. That was that was the thing that got me was how? How calm he stayed.And how matter of fact, he was, he’s like, well,. I’ve got all the time in the world that I need to warm up here,. So I’m going to do it,. You know, the way that I normally do, it. And that’s what worked out for him.

Paul Hoynes 16:26Yeah, Joe,. It was like no one was coming out of the bullpen. I kept looking. Who? Who’s coming out of the pen and you know, the door wasn’t opening. And and Judas told us after the game, yeah, he’s putting his sleeves on. He was like you said, taking chugging some Red Bull, taking his time, putting his cleats on, I guess,. But you can’t throw any pitches.In the bullpen in, in that, in that instance, you’ve got to come out onto the mound and and, you know, do your warmups there and then, you know, he walks out. Joey,. I was watching when he finally emerged. He walked, you know, halfway, halfway to the mound. And then he started a little bit of a jog to the mound. From, you know, mid, right field, you know, right.Center field got there and then he looked like he was playing catch with you or me, didn’t he, Joe?. I mean, it looked like he was,. He threw about like, 30 pitches. It seemed like, but there was no,. You know,. He wasn’t hyper., He would. There was no,. You know,. There was no like he wasn’t like in a hurry,. You know, he just,. He just looked like he was playing catch on a Sunday.

Joe Noga 17:09Yeah.

Paul Hoynes 17:26Afternoon in the backyard.

Joe Noga 17:28Well, it’s it’s slow and it’s methodical and it’s it’s what worked. It is what it you’re a nine year veteran like Jacob Junus. You know your body,. You know what it takes to get you comfortable and ready to go in and pitch. Normally you’ve got that time in the bullpen. They don’t. They give you at least enough of a heads up when you might be going.Going in in this case, it was the 3rd inning. Nobody was expecting him to to, to pop up and and have to to go out there and pitch. So he wasn’t necessarily ready., But you know, they’re they’re always ready. They’re. That’s what the bullpen’s for. We’ve seen this twice this year already with Tim Herron being the guy to come in.A starter has gone short. We saw it in Toronto when Tanner Bybee had cramps in both legs. We saw it at Progressive Field when Paul Seewald came out of a game with a shoulder injury. Both of those times, Tim Herron came into the game once. You know, he gave up a few runs in Toronto. He was very.Good went scoreless in that appearance., So it’s just a different mentality for these guys in a different situation, Steven Vogt said. You know, gave him all the respect in the world afterwards, for for knowing himself and knowing the situation, knowing that he can. He can sort of take his time and not worrying about.You know, hey,. I’ve got to go out there and get ready in a hurry. No,. The the game will wait for you in that instance because you know, player safety and player health is is what’s more important in that in that moment.

Paul Hoynes 18:59Yeah, and you know, a vote said,. You know,. That was the classic ambush situation. You know, you come in there and get your your head knocked off when you’re the when you’re the pitcher. But he he did. I mean, Junus handled that great. I like what he said. He said he wasn’t even watching the game on TV in the bullpen. He really didn’t know what was going.

Joe Noga 19:04Yeah.

Paul Hoynes 19:19And then all of a sudden, he hears everybody screaming his name to get ready. So and you know, he just kind of moseyed out there to the mound. And you know, like you said,. Joey threw up a zero and. And then Colby Allard comes in there and takes over from there. But just just an impressive.

Joe Noga 19:25It.

Paul Hoynes 19:38Performance by Junus. And you know, that was against his old team., The team he played started last season with, and he goes, after, you know,. He talked to Us,. He said, he said, those guys know exactly what I throw. I wasn’t fooling anybody out there. So that was, it was fun. That was a fun discussion.

Joe Noga 19:42Mhm.And and you mentioned Kobe Allard. He came in and and talked about how, you know, he’s not the kind of guy who blows you away with a lot of velocity. And there were points in his career where, you know, chasing velocity was something that, you know, was sort of in fashion and and he sort of went the other direction, became more of a pitcher’s pitcher and.That was his third appearance, where he went at least three innings, gave the bullpen some length and, and you know, he he pitched what, 3 scoreless, and he sort of danced in and out of trouble. There. Just an invaluable sort of weapon that, that, that Stephen Vogt can go.Go to in that situation and and has done more than once already this season since Allard joined the team in in late April. Just he gives you a lot of different looks and a lot of different possibilities.And and maybe he’s even a candidate to to start a game or two, depending on how long Ben Lively could be out of the rotation. If, if if the the news is bad on his injury report.

Paul Hoynes 21:06Yeah, no doubt about it, Joe. Allard was a great pickup by the organization. You know, they brought him to camp on a minor league deal. He’s got big league time with several different teams. He started, he’s relieved. And like you said, he has been a great addition to this pitching staff since they brought him up.Up 2 and O with a 1.20 ERA, 6 strikeouts and 15 innings. The opposition’s hitting 216 against them. And like you said, Joe, I mean, it doesn’t seem like he’s got any limit to how many, how many innings he can go. I mean, we’ve seen him go 6.We saw him go 3 innings last night and he really kind of changes the tenor of the game when he comes in there. It. It looks like you know every when if there’s he can, he can control the tempo and calms everything down.

Joe Noga 22:00Yeah, the funny Kobe Allard walking off the podium last night and you had asked him, he said, you know, what’s your limit? What’s the the limit of your your innings or whatever? And the response was,? I guess there is no limit. And it just reminded me of the the line in the movie Mean Girls, the the limit does not exist. So with.With Kobe Allen, the limit does not exist. We’ll we’ll see how he can affect and impact games moving forward for the Guardians. All right. Tonight, Logan Allen takes the mound against the the Brewers and Quinn Presider.Right-hander with a one-on-one record and a 5.08 ERA in five starts, 6 appearances for the Brewers Hoynzi. That’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.We will check back in with you again, tomorrow.