The Indians have leaned heavily on their starting rotation for the last handful of seasons, but the outing Aaron Civale gave his team on Tuesday may have been one of the most crucial ones Cleveland has gotten in a long time.

With two vacancies in the rotation, Civale stepped up and was just three outs away from turning in his second career complete game, as he went eight-plus strong frames to lead the Indians to a 4-1 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park.

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“I thought he had everything working tonight,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “I thought he changed speeds like a veteran -- and I know I've said that before. But I mean, he threw a fastball in to some righties when he needed to. He'd cut the ball. He'd spin it. He'd throw that changeup. I thought he was terrific.”

Over the last few years, the starting rotation was the only source of consistency and reliability for Cleveland. Even when a hurler would get hurt, the organization somehow had another waiting in the Minors. But now, the Indians have found themselves in a pinch. Triston McKenzie was optioned (although he’ll be recalled to start on Wednesday) and Zach Plesac went on the injured list on Tuesday, leaving the team with two open spots in the rotation. And with Shane Bieber still scuffling and Sam Hentges having little Major League experience, Civale’s consistency has never been more valuable.

“Circumstances are such, and it's unfortunate that [Plesac’s injury] happened,” Civale said. “It’s nobody's fault, just kind of a freak thing that happened, but we just got to play together and grind together, that's what we do.”

Tuesday’s victory gave Civale his American League-best seventh win, as he improved to 6-0 with a 2.19 ERA in seven career starts against Detroit (all Cleveland wins). His season ERA dropped to 3.04, and during a year in which the Indians have grinded through some shaky starts, Civale has been as dependable as possible, considering eight of his 10 starts have all been at least six innings. Six of those starts have gone as far as seven frames, which is tied for the most seven-plus-inning outings in the Majors.

Tuesday was no different. Civale permitted just six hits with one walk and six strikeouts in his longest outing of the year. If that wasn’t enough, he watched all six of his pitches tick up a bit in velocity.

“Every time I'm out there, I'm trying to go as deep into the game as possible,” Civale said. “Obviously it's nice to put that game together, but it was, again, a team win. We don't win without the whole team.”

Civale put himself in a position to take his pitching to the next level over the offseason, when he completely revamped his delivery, which has made him better suited to be the rock of the rotation as it goes through this rough patch.

“The arm change and some of that has allowed the consistency to be there a little more frequently,” Civale said. “Definitely don't regret anything, and will hopefully be growing and working on that.”

That consistency almost allowed Civale to earn his first career shutout on Tuesday, when he came back out for the ninth inning with only 92 pitches under his belt. But after the right-hander gave up a leadoff single and a walk, Francona thought it was best to turn to James Karinchak, given the state of the rotation.

“I told him I don't have any doubt he could have gotten through that ninth inning,” Francona said. “With the way we're situated right now, the last thing I wanted was him throwing 125 pitches and having to dig for more that late in the game.”

Although it got dicey toward the end, as a run came across and the winning run was at the plate, Karinchak was able to escape the jam and help Cleveland piece together another win, despite receiving another blow with the Plesac news earlier in the afternoon.

“I was trying to tell the guys the other day when we got here, sometimes winning's hard,” Francona said. “But it doesn't mean we can’t. And to enjoy competing and not to leave anything on the field. No 'what ifs.' If we're not good enough, we're not good enough. But let's compete. They've done a really good job of that. It makes for a fun atmosphere. I really believe that.”