The Cleveland Indians remain the heavy favorites in the AL Central and will welcome their biggest competition in the division to Progressive Field for a three game weekend set starting on Friday. The Detroit Tigers are off to a pretty decent start, but will be coming to Cleveland with Justin Upton in-and-out of the lineup over the first week and a half and with J.D. Martinez still on the shelf.
This series will be contested from Friday, April 14, 2017 through Sunday, April 16, 2017 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Saturday afternoon matchup will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1.
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Pitching Matchups
The Indians have yet to announce their rotation beyond their series with the White Sox, but the Tigers should see Trevor Bauer, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco based on how the rotation lines up heading into the weekend series. The Tigers, meanwhile, have Daniel Norris set to start on Friday night, followed by Justin Verlander and Matthew Boyd on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
On Friday, both Bauer and Norris will be making their second starts of the season with Norris having a much better debut than Bauer who struggled against the Arizona Diamondbacks, his original professional organization.
In his start, Bauer did manage to go 5.2 innings, but he allowed four runs on seven hits in the process, though he did strike out seven Diamondbacks and walked nobody in the game, exhibiting pretty good command. Historically, Bauer has had some issues with the free pass, but last time out, he almost found too much of the plate at times.
Bauer will also be facing a team he has struggled against in his career. Bauer has faced Detroit 10 times—nine times as a starter—and is 4-3, but has a 6.89 ERA and 1.792 WHIP in his 49.2 innings of work. He’s also given up nine home runs in that time.
Norris, on the other hand, has a pretty good ERA against the Indians, albeit a bit skewed and in only 10 innings. He’s given up just three earned runs, but has allowed six total runs and 12 hits while walking four in those 10 innings. He did strike out 10, however.
Meanwhile, in Norris’s first start of the season, he handled a very good Boston lineup, holding them to three runs in 6.1 innings, to record the quality start. To be fair, the Red Sox lineup was a bit diminished due to the flu.
Following the Norris/Bauer matchup on Friday night, we will enjoy an excellent showdown of two of the AL’s best pitchers on Saturday with Kluber matching up with Verlander.
In two starts, Verlander has pitched exceptionally well going 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA, allowing just nine hits and four walks in 13.1 innings of work with striking out 14. He missed out on a second win only because he matched up against Chris Sale who was lights out.
Kluber, on the other hand, hasn’t been quite as filthy as Verlander to start the season. He’s already given up four home runs while allowing eight runs to score—seven earned—in 12 innings of work.
Now, while the recent numbers seem to favor the Tigers on the mound in the first two games of the series, the Indians get the edge in Game 3. Matt Boyd is an interesting young arm, but he was bombed in his first start, allowing five runs in just two and a third. Meanwhile, the Indians have Carrasco who looked healthy and strong his first time out, fanning seven in 5.2 innings.
Who's Hot?
Francisco Lindor became a household name during the Indians’ run to Game 7 of the World Series last year. He was the team’s best and most consistent player throughout the post season and his bat hasn’t seemed to cool off over the offseason.
The young shortstop has begun 2017 red hot, going 8-for-26 in his first seven games, but the bigger story is his power; five of his eight hits have been for extra bases with four of them ending up over the fence. Add in five walks and Lindor has a OPS of 1.214 through his first seven games.
Another postseason hero has started off hot as well with Andrew Miller having appeared in four of the first seven games. He’s not pitching as many innings per game as he did in the postseason—that wouldn’t be sustainable—but he’s been nearly unhittable when he’s been on the bump. The former Tiger has allowed just two hits and no walks in 4.1 innings. He had some issues in the World Baseball Classic, but seems to be right back to being the best reliever in the sport.
For Detroit, Verlander is one of the better early performers, but he’s not alone even though the offensive support for him in his second start wasn’t there, it’s been okay overall. Ian Kinsler is doing his job atop the order. He’s getting on base at a .483 clip and has a pair of home runs. Speaking of bombs, James McCann has already hit three homers and is tied with Kinsler for the team lead in RBIs with five.
Who's Not?
This isn’t likely to continue too much longer, but right now, Edwin Encarnacion is ice cold. The designated hitter/first baseman has been one of the more consistent hitters over the last half-decade, but he’s already struck out 10 times in seven games and has just five hits in 27 at bats.
He’s not the only Indian hitter off to a slow start. The team has a OPS of .666. Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez have two total hits from behind the plate.
The Tigers’ haven’t gotten much out of their biggest slugger either. Miguel Cabrera has just three hits in his 24 at bats and has struck out nine times, having yet to produce an extra base hit. That change soon. A more concerning number is the number of hits—two—this team has out of the shortstop position so far. Jose Iglesias has an amazing glove, but he’s been a near automatic out at the dish, so much so that Dixon Machado got the last start though he, too, went hitless.
Justin Upton is another Tigers’ bat off to a slow start. With J.D. Martinez injured and a bit of a rotating door in center field, Detroit needs Upton to be the consistent presence in the outfield. Injury has cost him a few at bats. He does have four walks so he is getting on base, but he’s yet to drive the ball.
The bullpen also remains a mystery for the Tigers. No matter what, it’s been an issue for this team for the better part of a decade. Cleveland’s pen is stacked while Bruce Rondon, Anibal Sanchez, Alex Wilson and Shane Greene have all already struggled.
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