The injured Alex Cobb was left off the Guardians' ALCS roster and replaced by Ben Lively

NEW YORK (AP) — Pitcher Alex Cobb has been released by Cleveland's American League Championship Series squad on Tuesday after he was injured again in the opening game and the Guardians were looking for a starter for Game 5 against the Guardians New York Yankees.

“It was a challenging year. The timing of this coming in the postseason makes it particularly difficult,” Cobb said. “It's a moment I've been waiting for my whole career and one I haven't been able to contribute to – putting the team in a hole yesterday was a challenge.”

Cobb left on Monday 5:2 defeat after 2 2/3 innings. The 37-year-old right-hander is ineligible to play for the remainder 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 on Wednesday with a 6:3 defeat. “An injury like that would be a full IL stay, and with the timing of the year, the chances of him pitching again were very, very, very slim.”

Cobb was replaced on the roster by Ben Lively, a 32-year-old right-hander who was Cleveland's winningest pitcher that season, going 13-10 with a 3.81 ERA in 29 starts.

“We don’t know what we’re going to have,” Vogt said. “Alex wanted to start Game 5. Now we have to find out today that we still have six games to play.”

Lively left-hander Gavin Williams is a candidate to start Game 3 on Thursday in Cleveland.

Cobb threw just 22 innings in five games this year, including the regular season and playoffs.

Cobb, a 2023 All-Star, had hip surgery on Oct. 31 and had not returned to the mound at that time acquired by Cleveland from San Francisco at the July 30 trade deadline.

He made his season debut on August 9th and was sidelined after two games due to a torn nail on his right index finger. He did not allow an earned run through six innings in his comeback on September 1 against Pittsburgh and then ended up back on the injured list with a blister on his right middle finger that ended his regular season.

Cobb went 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA in the playoffs. He received a salary of $10 million this year under a club option that was exercised and will be eligible to become a free agent after the World Series.

Lively last pitched on September 28 against Houston on the second-to-last day of the regular season.

“I'm just sticking with the same training program as when I started: practice day, heavy bullpen day in between and just trying to stay fit,” Lively said.

He 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 inning, scoring after Anthony Rizzo's home run off reliever Ian Gibaut at 6 :2 New York win.

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