Pregame notes: Cleveland Indians Look to Halt Skid in Series Finale vs. Kansas City Royals

Tribe turn to Salazar to help avoid sweep

The Cleveland Indians may have their best chance to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals, as they will send

(2-0, 2.08) to the mound. Since being recalled, Salazar has been impressive, striking out 21 in 13 innings. The Royals hope

(2-1, 4.09) can simply finish an outing. He’s been ejected in his last two and left with minor injuries in the two prior to that.

For the Royals (14-6), it could be a while before Ventura’s next start as he awaits his appeal on his seven-game suspension handed down by Major League Baseball. Until then, they’re looking for him to complete the sweep on an Indians team that had much higher expectations than their results. While Salazar is the hottest pitcher for the Tribe, Ventura’s career numbers against them (1.57 ERA in five meetings–2-0 with a 0.59 ERA in two starts in Cleveland) will make things difficult.

After demoting Salazar following a rough spring, the Indians (6-13) called him back up and he’s been the pitcher they had anticipated entering the 2015 season. His last outing against the Detroit Tigers was even better than his first, as he struck out 11 and allowed only one run over seven innings. Salazar will need to tread carefully with Eric Hosmer, who has five hits in nine at-bats against him with three doubles.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 pm ET, and no matter what, the Indians can NOT have the lowest home game attendance of the night–which is a plus.

Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s game:

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