Cleveland Indians vs. Kansas City Royals: 4/23/14 Live Blog

Apr 22, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians first baseman

(33) reacts after striking out in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Indians Looking for Winning Way Against Royals

The Indians are struggling with consistency right now. From one game to the next there is just no telling which version of this team is going to show up. They might score eight runs and shut out the opposition, or a starter is going four innings and getting lit up while the offense struggles to get a runner past second base. Early season struggles or a sing of things to come? There’s no telling, but the Indians need to find a way to fix the problems sooner rather than later.

Tonight against the Royals, they will send Justin Masterson to the mound, who is still in search of his first victory on the year. More importantly than that, though, Masterson just wants to put together two solid starts in a row. That’s something he had yet to do in the early parts of this season. As a result, Masterson has posted a very un-Justin Masterson like 4.98 ERA.

Meanwhile, the Royals will counter with left hander Jason Vargas. So far this season, Vargas is 2-0 with a 1.24 ERA. In his most recent start, he went seven shutout innings against the Twins. Criticized by many for giving Vargas such a lucrative contract this past winter, the Royals have to be happy on the return on their investment thus far. He will continue to keep his hot streak going against an Indians lineup that has been less than spectacular of late.

Starting Lineups:

As a reminder, I will be providing live updates of tonight’s game both in this post and in the comments section below. Feel free to contribute you thoughts, comments and questions as the Indians try to get a little revenge on the Royals after last night’s beat down.