DETROIT -- If the Indians’ postseason hopes came down to the American League Wild Card Game, there’s no question that 24-year-old Shane Bieber would receive plenty of votes to be the man on the mound in the one-game play-in. But the way Mike Clevinger has continued to pitch since coming off the injured list could certainly present the Tribe with a challenging decision.

Clevinger tossed a season-high eight shutout innings, allowing just four hits to help the Indians sweep the Tigers with a 2-0 victory in the series finale on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park. The win was Cleveland’s 14th consecutive over Detroit, improving the Tribe’s record to 15-1 against their divisional opponent this season.

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"He was lights-out, really attacking,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “It's obvious by how many hits we had, and he made it tough. He spins the ball really good. His fastball was jumping, and he was spotting it in and out. He pretty much made it impossible for us to really do anything against him, or at least put anything together. When we did get somebody on, he went right at the next guy and didn't give us an opportunity."

Indians pitchers have thrived against the rebuilding Tigers team this series, but Clevinger’s dominance in Thursday’s matinee was no fluke. He came off the injured list to make his first start in over two months on June 17, but he sprained his ankle and went back on the 10-day IL. He had one shaky outing after his return and has since gone 9-0 with a 1.86 ERA (14 earned runs in 67 2/3 innings) in 11 starts. Clevinger added 10 more K's to his 2019 stats, recording his 10th career double-digit strikeout game and fifth of the year.

“If you would’ve saw my bullpens during the rehab though, I was max-efforting the bullpens just trying to find that feeling again,” Clevinger said of his rehab process. “The first couple weren’t about spots; it was like let’s see if I can find the feeling of ripping sliders faster than that kind of slow tick into Spring Training where you kind of ease into it and you’re building up. This was like, look, I’m built up, let’s get back to feeling everything click again. So I think that’s why I kind of came back faster.”

Although he missed a significant period of time on the injured list with an upper back strain before the ankle sprain, Clevinger still ranked third in strikeouts per nine (13.0) entering his start, trailing Chris Sale (13.3) and Gerrit Cole (13.3) among hurlers with at least 75 innings. Over his last 11 outings, he’s struck out 92 of the 264 batters he’s faced (34.8 percent), including 10 on Thursday.

“He didn’t have an inning over 21 pitches, and that was his last inning,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Every time he’d let one fly, he’d corral himself and come back. I thought he pitched really good today. Shoot, his fastball had velocity that he kept throughout the game. His breaking ball was really good. He just really pitched.”

Clevinger’s 24 swings-and-misses against the Tigers tied for his most in any outing of his career.

"That's what he gets you to do,” Gardenhire said. “His ball jumps all over the place. He threw strikes when he had to, and then when he got ahead in the count, which he was pretty much all day, that's when he gets people to chase out of the zone. You have to try to fight him off, and when he's throwing that hard, it's not that easy to foul him off. He was just really good."

After making his final start of the month, Clevinger has now gone 12-1 in August with a 2.61 ERA over his four-year career.

“That’s the goal,” Clevinger said. “You want to get stronger as the season goes and that’s what we train for. ... I mean I hope I’d be throwing 98 [mph] in Spring Training, but 98 at the end of the year is where it’s gonna matter.”