Series Preview: Indians @ Twins

The fighting braves of the Cuyahoga head to Target Field in Minnesota to take on the 7-4 Minnesota Twins for a four-game set.

Pitching Probables
Monday 8:10 p.m. RHP Danny Salazar (0-1, 4.63 ERA) v.s. RHP Kyle Gibson (0-1, 8.00 ERA)

Tuesday 8:10 p.m. RHP Josh Tomlin (0-2, 18.47 ERA) v.s. RHP Phil Hughes (2-0, 3.86 ERA)

Wednesday 8:00 p.m. RHP Trevor Bauer (0-2, 8.44 ERA) v.s. LHP Adalberto Mejia (0-1, 4.05 ERA

Thursday 1:10 p.m. RHP Corey Kluber (1-1, 6.38 ERA) v.s. RHP Ervin Santana (3-0, 0.41 (!!!) ERA))

Note: Tomlin may be off to the worst two-game start in major league history (That's probably not true, this is just hyperbole, but it's been a long weekend so bear with me). In two starts, Tomlin has made it through only 6.1 innings, giving up 15 hits and 13 runs. His ERA is 18.47. Tomlin and Bauer both have struggled and you have to wonder how many more starts they will get before the organization decides to give Mike Clevinger a start. The two must get their act together quickly because Clevinger is off to a scorching start for Triple-A Columbus. In two starts, he has pitched 13 innings and allowed only one run. Clevinger has 17 strikeouts against four walks and has allowed only six hits.

Tribe Keys to victory against Minnesota
(Also, be sure to tune in on game day so our newest writer Hannah Baldridge, of the Facebook Indians' fan page Cleveland Indians Tribe Nation, can give you the game-by-game keys! It's sure to be great content, so don't miss it!)

1. Right the ship on the hill - The Indians are considered by many to have one of the best starting pitching staffs in the big leagues. Before the season started, my only concerns were with Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer. Tomlin had an incredible post-season, and I think many people thought he could perform at that level during the regular season. I never bought into it and after two very rough starts, it's important he gets it back together. Tomlin is who he is, he will not walk very many batters (he walked only 20 in 174 innings last season). He is going to give up the long ball (he gave up 36 home runs last year. He also isn't going to strike people out at a high rate (he had 118 last year). It is pivotal he keeps the ball down in the zone and keeps the ball in the yard. To me, the rest of it is just batted ball luck. Put your best defense behind him and he could be a good number five started. The Tribe will need their best from him if he is going to stay in the rotation.

2. Edwin needs to find his groove - The $60 million man, Edwin Encarnacion, who holds the largest
free agent contract in Cleveland baseball history, has to start being more productive at the plate. The slugger has hit at least 34 home runs in each of the last five seasons, so I think it's just a matter of time until he does. He has, unfortunately, come up short in some big situations early in the season, batting only 8-for-40 (.200 batting average) to start the year. Encarnacion also has 1 home run and eight walks. Look for Encarnacion to leave the yard at least once against Minnesota.

3. Get some offense out of the bottom of the lineup - The players who have been in the eight and nine spots in the line have been nearly automatic outs. The poster child for this situation is Yan Gomes, who has a team-low .067 batting average. In order for the Tribe to keep rallies going and to stay in games late, the offense needs more production out of the bottom of the order. The offense has produced but could improve if it was getting more from the bottom of the order. As of Sunday evening, Cleveland was seventh in the league, averaging 4.91 runs per game. The return of Jason Kipnis (hopefully this week) should help the entire offense.

Player to Watch - The pitching staff. Instead of choosing a player, I went with an entire unit. This goes back to first key of the series.
The strengths of the team coming into the year were considered to be the starting rotation and the bullpen. To some extent, the bullpen has held up their end of the bargain (Andrew Miller and Cody Allen have been magnificent), but, the rotation has to improve its game to get the Indians back to their winning ways.

Interesting Stat of the Series - The Indians are second-to-last in the league in runs allowed, giving up 5.55 runs per game. Last year, the Indians allowed 4.2 runs per game, good for seventh in all of baseball.