The Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians kicked off a four-game series on Monday night with the Tribe getting the victory. This is a rematch of last season’s ALDS with Cleveland reestablishing its dominance against the Sox early. The rest of the series should be an interesting test for both teams as they each are sitting atop their respective divisions and are now tasked with getting ready to make a postseason run.
This series will be contested from Monday, August 21, 2017 through Thursday, August 24, 2017 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Both games on Wednesday and Thursday night will be broadcast on MLB Network for those outside the local television markets.
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Pitching Matchups
The Indians had Mike Clevinger on the mound Monday and the Red Sox hung a four spot on him, but the Tribe came through with a late-inning, come-from-behind victory to waste a solid start from Eduardo Rodriguez.
Based on the names, Boston had the starting pitching edge in the series opener. Cleveland grabs the advantage in the next two games with Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber lined up for Tuesday and Wednesday against Doug Fister and maybe Drew Pomeranz depending on the status of his back. He left his last start with back spasms. His availability for this series remains in question.
Pomeranz has been the team’s second best pitcher after Chris Sale so he could give the Sox a fighting chance against Kluber, but if he’s not good to go, the matchup gets more lopsided as the Boston pitching depth is challenged right now with Steven Wright and David Price each on the DL.
The fact that Fister is still in the rotation despite a 2-6 record, 5.56 ERA and 1.649 WHIP is quite telling on the team’s depth.
On the Indians’ side of those matchups, Carrasco is 12-5 with a 3.76 ERA while Kluber is 12-3 with a 2.67 ERA.
Carrasco is a strikeout machine with 10.1 per nine innings and is back on track after a couple poor outings earlier in August. In his last two starts, he’s combined for 13 innings, allowing one run on seven hits while striking out 19. He’s walked just three during that time and the only run allowed was on a home run.
During his career, Carrasco has only faced Boston six times—making just four starts. He’s struggled against them, giving up 15 runs in 21 innings. In Fenway on August 1, he allowed five runs and didn’t get out of the second inning.
As for Kluber, the Klubot keeps consistently dominating. He didn’t get to face the Red Sox in their series earlier this month, but he has faced them nine times in his regular season career. He has been just okay in those appearances, but he dominated them in the ALDS last year, allowing three hits and no runs in seven innings. And, that was a better offensive club.
Kluber has allowed more than one run in a game just five times in his 15 starts since the start of June and has allowed more than three runs just once in that span. He’s thrown 145 innings in just 21 starts, giving the Indians plenty of innings and, thus, the Tribe is 14-7 when he takes the ball.
After a Game 1 win and with matchup advantages in this home series in the next two games, it’s a relief for the Red Sox that they’ll have Chris Sale starting on Thursday. Sale gives them a chance to get the series finale. He matches up with Trevor Bauer.
Bauer is a starter with good stuff, but has an inflated 4.50 ERA. He is 12-8, however, and has been locked in recently. In his last six starts, he’s pitched to a 1.51 ERA. He’s also coming off a 6.1 inning scoreless appearance against Kansas City.
While that is all great news for the Indians, they’re counting on Bauer to outpitch Sale. That’s a tall order.
Sure, Sale did allowing seven runs in five innings back on August 1 against this Indians, but don’t look for a repeat. Sale has been nearly unhittable most of the year. He’s 14-5 with a 2.62 ERA and 250 strikeouts in 175.1 innings.
Sale’s win total, ERA, innings, strikeouts, and WHIP—amongst other stats—all lead the AL.
One thing going for Cleveland other than their last game against Sale is his career numbers against him. While he’s dominated most opponents, he’s only 5-7 with a 4.81 ERA in 17 career starts against Cleveland, a sizeable sample to be sure.
Who's Hot?
The Red Sox’s offense hasn’t been great this year, but they’ve shown improvement in the month of August. As a unit, Boston has a .818 OPS in the month.
After a strong start to the year and a couple slow months in the middle, Mitch Moreland is hitting .333 in August with a .385 OBP. He’s hit seven doubles, too, but has just two homers in the month.
Andrew Benintendi and Rafeal Devers lead the team in August homers with six each. The duo has combined for 28 RBIs and are both hitting over .300 as the rookie sensation from last year and the rookie sensation from this year are carrying the offense.
Overall, most of the offense has been chugging along rather well for Boston.
In Cleveland, meanwhile, the offense has an OPS nearly 100 points lower than the Red Sox in August and a batting average at .229 as a team, but the late inning win on Monday could spark the team.
Even if it doesn’t, Jay Bruce has swung the bat very well since his acquisition from the Mets. Austin Jackson has been swinging well, too. That may be enough given the strength of the Indians’ pitching right now.
With a team ERA of 3.01 in August, the Tribe leads all of baseball in pitching over the last month. The bullpen, of course, has been at the center of that even with some struggles from Cody Allen and Andrew Miller missing most of the month.
Who's Not?
As noted above, Cody Allen and Andrew Miller are not quite themselves right now for the Indians. Cleveland depends on a lockdown bullpen. Fortunately, the pen was great in the series opener, allowing them to come from behind to get the win.
Offensively, Jose Ramirez has been slumping. After an All-Star first half, he’s batting .194 in August and hasn’t hit a single homer in the month. Yan Gomes and Jason Kipnis continue to hit just around the Mendoza line, too.
While Boston’s offense has been swinging well, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. haven’t been part of the success.
In the bullpen, Joe Kelly had been a key setup man to Craig Kimbrel most of the year, but he’s notched a couple blown saves in August and has allowed five runs in 4.2 innings over six appearances. Addison Reed, acquired to help set up Kimbrel, has not gotten into the grove for the BoSox. He’s struggled since his trade from the Mets and has walked three and allowed two homers over eight innings.
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