Cleveland Indians-Philadelphia Phillies Series Preview

Cleveland Indians-Philadelphia Phillies Series Preview 4/29-5/1

The Cleveland Indians (10-9) head to the city of brotherly love to face off against the Philadelphia Phillies (12-10). This will be the Tribe’s second interleague series this season though the first on the road as they faced the New York Mets at home earlier this month. The Tribe will look to close out the month of April and this long 9-game road trip on a high note.

Scheduled to pitch this series for the Indians are Corey Kluber (tonight), Trevor Bauer (tomorrow), and Danny Salazar (Sunday).  Countering for the Phillies will be lefthander Adam Morgan followed by righties Jerad Eickhoff and Vincent Velasquez. Morgan will be making his 2016 Phillies debut as he’s been in the minors to start the season while on Saturday Bauer is scheduled to make his first start of the 2016 season for the Indians after replacing the injured Carlos Carrasco.

Due to the games being played at a National League park, there will be no designated hitter used during the series. This means that one of Carlos Santana/Mike Napoli will be on the bench to start the game barring manager Terry Francona getting very creative. With a lefty starting tonight it’s likely that Napoli will get the start at first base with Santana possibly getting the weekend starts with the righties on the mound. It should be noted that Mike Napoli did start 11 games in the outfield last season for the Texas Rangers… 

More from Away Back Gone

• Cleveland Guardians tantalizingly close to locking up AL Central tiebreakers
• Cleveland Guardians: Terry Francona becomes meme in profanity-laced ejection
• Say goodbye to defensive shifts and hello to bigger bases, pitch clock in 2023
• Cleveland Guardians: Shane Bieber second-fastest to 800 strikeouts in major-league history
• The next week will make or break the Cleveland Guardians’ season

last season for the Texas Rangers

…

More from Away Back Gone

• Cleveland Guardians tantalizingly close to locking up AL Central tiebreakers
• Cleveland Guardians: Terry Francona becomes meme in profanity-laced ejection
• Say goodbye to defensive shifts and hello to bigger bases, pitch clock in 2023
• Cleveland Guardians: Shane Bieber second-fastest to 800 strikeouts in major-league history
• The next week will make or break the Cleveland Guardians’ season

Keys to the Series

One big key for the Indians, not only to this series but the coming weeks, will be just how well Trevor Bauer is able to pitch in his return to the starting rotation. With Carrasco out four-to-six weeks with a hamstring injury and Cody Anderson sent to Triple-A after struggling, the Indians will need Bauer to pitch like he did in the first half of last season when he had a 3.76 ERA and 3.96 FIP. In the second half though Bauer struggled with a 5.73 ERA and 4.89 FIP, which is what prompted his move to the bullpen then and may ultimately have lead to him being in the bullpen to start he 2016 season.

Offensively the Indians will need to overcome the loss of either Napoli or Santana. The two players are tied for the team lead with 11 runs batted in on the year (along with catcher Yan Gomes) so someone will need to step up and help produce runs for the Indians. Outfielder Marlon Byrd could see a lot of playing time this weekend with the Lonnie Chisenhall still listed as day-to-day with his sore neck. Byrd is currently batting .271 with a .795 OPS and 127 wRC+ (weighted runs created), which ranks second on the team behind fellow outfielder Rajai Davis.  The Tribe will also need Michael Brantley to start hitting as he has just one hit (a single) in nine at-bats since returning from the disabled list.

Hunter Getting Close?

With Chisenhall and Brantley both back in Cleveland, only reliever Tommy Hunter remains on a rehab assignment in the minor leagues. Hunter is still with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers and has been pitching very well. In eight appearances, Hunter has a 1.00 ERA and 0.78 WHIP in nine innings including four strikeouts and no walks. Opponents are batting just .212 off him as well. Of course, these numbers are all against minor league hitters, but it’s still a great sign from a guy working his way back from injury.

Next: Naquin Deserves to Stick Around

The Indians have not said when Hunter will return, but he’s likely getting very close. He still has a few more days that he can be on assignment and the Tribe may use them to try and sort out their bullpen, which remains crowded with eight members still after Kyle Crockett joined the club this week.  There’s no way the Indians would carry nine relievers for more than a couple days though they don’t need a fifth starting pitcher until May 7th so perhaps Tito would consider such a move but more likely if Hunter is back before the 7th it’d be for another reliever, likely Crockett though Dan Otero, Joba Chamberlain, and Ross Detwiler could be options as well…