Cleveland Guardians lose Ben Lively to injury, call-up Zak Kent

If there was one pitcher the Cleveland Guardians really could not afford to lose right now it is Ben Lively and unfortuantely, that is just who has landed on the injured list.

Lively has been placed on the 15-day IL with a right flexor tendon strain, according to a team announcement. Zak Kent has been called up from Triple-A Columbus to take his spot on the major league roster. Kent has made two appearances in Cleveland this season, allowing one run on four hits in 4 innings across two appearances.

The 33-year-old Lively left Monday night's 5-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in the 3rd inning with what was then described as right-arm inflammation. A pretty vague description, which has become more clear with the information provided on Tuesday ahead of their second of three games with Milwaukee. Hopefully, Lively's time on the injured list will be brief, because even though Lively is not the most talented member of Cleveland's pitching staff, he has been the most effective, and that is what matters right now.

Lively has a team-best 3.22 ERA and 1.187 WHIP while having pitched at least 5 innings in all but one start prior to Monday. Being able to count on a starter making it past the 5th inning every time out is a valuable resource for any manager and has certainly helped Guardians skipper manage his bullpen usage accordingly. Stability may not be the most attractive aspect to any one player, but Lively being a stable presence for Cleveland has been of great benefit.

Again, the ideal situation that plays out here is any time missed by Lively is minimal, as it is questionable whether or not the rest of Cleveland's rotation can weather this storm. The outings from the other Guardians starting pitchers have been very inconsistent, and having to add additional pitcher(s) with the same issue into the mix may prove to be too disruptive to a team that really cannot handle another variable being thrown into the mix.

The Guardians are a good team, but there still seems to be some sort of fragility to how they have found success, and losing a key member of their starting staff might be too much to overcome. It is going to be up to the rest of the starting rotation to pick up the slack in Lively's absence. Whether or not they are successful in doing so will determine this team's trajectory for the rest of the season, and ideally, it maintains its current upward direction while Lively is out of action.