BOSTON -- The Indians' decision to go with a six-man rotation recently made Monday's news about Josh Tomlin a little easier to swallow.
Before Monday's game against the Red Sox, the Indians placed Tomlin on the 10-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain and made plans for him to travel to Cleveland to undergo an MRI exam Tuesday. The Tribe then promoted lefty Tyler Olson from Triple-A Columbus to give the bullpen a second left-hander.
"It's better to be safe than sorry in this kind of situation," Tomlin said. "There's no reason to try to push through it and make it worse and miss significant time, as opposed to a 10-day DL, which is a blessing now. With a six-man rotation, you probably won't miss but maybe one start, maybe two, worst-case scenario."
In the meantime, Cleveland does not need to make a move to replace Tomlin in the rotation. With Tomlin sidelined, the Indians' starting staff consists of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, Danny Salazar and Mike Clevinger.
"At least we have six pitchers who are really good," Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway said. "We don't have to go call somebody up and hope they do well. It kept everybody in place."

Tomlin injured his hamstring while fielding a comebacker in the fourth inning of Sunday's 3-1 loss to the White Sox in Chicago. Leury Garcia chopped a pitch back up the middle, and Tomlin came off the mound awkwardly before reaching down to his right to glove the ball. The right-hander finished the inning, but he was pulled before the fifth inning.
Through 20 starts, Tomlin was 7-9 with a 5.38 ERA in 110 1/3 innings
Olson, 27, is making his second stint in the Indians' bullpen, which lost lefty Boone Logan to a left lat injury on July 19. Olson logged one scoreless inning for the Tribe in two appearances earlier this month, and excelled as a lefty specialist for Triple-A Columbus this year. In 34 relief outings for the Clippers, Olson limited left-handed batters to a .125 (9-for-72) average and posted a 3.21 ERA with 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
Cleveland explored adding a lefty reliever before Monday's 4 p.m. ET non-waiver Trade Deadline, but instead swung a trade with the Blue Jays to add righty Joe Smith to the bullpen.
"We're really excited to give Tyler an opportunity," Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. "That was one of the things that we weighed as we went through this process."