Cleveland activates righty Zach Plesac off injured list

Cleveland is reinstating right-hander Zach Plesac from the 10-day injured list to start Thursday evening’s game against the Royals, the team informed reporters, including Mandy Bell of MLB.com. Righty J.C. Mejia was optioned to Triple-A Columbus to create active roster space.

Plesac has missed about a month-and-a-half since suffering a non-displaced fracture in his right thumb in late May. Before the injury, the 26-year-old had tossed 58 2/3 innings of 4.14 ERA/4.50 SIERA ball over his first 10 starts. That’s a step back from the sterling 2.28 ERA/3.41 SIERA he pitched to over 55 1/3 frames in 2020, but it’s still solid production.

Cleveland hasn’t gotten much decent work from the starting staff in recent weeks. Cleveland lost Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale to IL stints of their own after Plesac went down, leaving the team reliant on an unproven rotation. Over the past month, Cleveland starters have pitched to a woeful 7.16 ERA that bests only the Orioles rotation (8.40). That’s contributed to a significant drop in the standings, as Cleveland is amid a nine-game losing streak that has knocked it back to .500 (42-42), eight games behind the division-leading White Sox.

Mejia has been a big part of those struggles. Over his seven starts, the 24-year-old has given up 25 runs in 25 1/3 innings. It has also been a difficult season for Triston McKenzie, who has walked 20.6% of opposing hitters en route to a 6.38 ERA. That led to Cleveland optioning McKenzie last month, but he’ll be recalled to start Friday evening’s game, relays Zack Meisel of The Athletic.