Pitcher Alex Cobb was removed from Cleveland’s American League Championship Series roster on Tuesday after he got injured again in the first game, leaving the Guardians looking for a starter for Game 5 against the New York Yankees.
“It’s been a challenging year. Timing of this one coming in the postseason makes it extra difficult,” Cobb said. “It’s a moment I’ve been waiting for my whole career and to not be able to contribute — to put the team in a hole yesterday was challenging.”
Cobb left Monday’s 5-2 loss after pitching 2 2/3 innings. The 37-year-old right-hander is not eligible to pitch for the rest of the postseason.
“He was diagnosed with a lower back strain,” manager Stephen Vogt said before Cleveland fell to 0-2 in the best-of-seven series with a 6-3 loss on Wednesday. “This type of injury would require a full IL stint, and with the timing of the year, the chances of him pitching again were very, very, very slim.”
Cobb has been replaced on the roster by Ben Lively, a 32-year-old right-hander who was Cleveland’s best pitcher this season with a record of 13-10 and a 3.81 ERA in 29 starts.
“We don’t know what we’re going to have,” Vogt said. “Alex was going to start Game 5. Now we have to figure out today knowing that we have six more games to cover.”
Lively and left-hander Gavin Williams are possible starters for Game 3 on Thursday in Cleveland.
Cobb pitched only 22 innings over five games this year, including the regular season and playoffs.
A 2023 All-Star, Cobb had hip surgery on October 31 and hadn’t returned to pitching when Cleveland acquired him from San Francisco at the July 30 trade deadline.
He made his season debut on August 9 but was sidelined after two games due to a torn nail on his right index finger. He didn’t allow any earned runs over six innings in his return against Pittsburgh on September 1, then went back on the injured list with a blister on his right middle finger, which ended his regular season.
Cobb went 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA in the playoffs. He earned a $10 million salary this year under a club option that was exercised and can become a free agent after the World Series.
Lively last pitched on September 28 against Houston, just before the end of the regular season.
“I’m just staying on the same workout program as I was when I was starting: workout day, heavy bullpen day mixed in between and just try to stay built up,” Lively said.
He has faced the Yankees once, on May 19 last year for Cincinnati, when he allowed a home run to Aaron Judge in the first inning and issued a walk to Judge in the sixth, who later scored on Anthony Rizzo’s homer in a 6-2 New York victory.
