Cleveland Indians-Detroit Tigers Series Preview

Cleveland Indians-Detroit Tigers Series Preview 5/3-5/5

The Cleveland Indians (10-12) begin a much needed homestand tonight as they take on the Detroit Tigers (14-10) in a three-game series. This will be the second meeting between the Indians and Tigers this year as the two recently met in Detroit. The Indians enjoyed their time in Detroit, sweeping the three-game series there.

Scheduled to pitch for the Indians are Josh Tomlin (tonight), Corey Kluber (tomorrow), and Trevor Bauer (Thursday). Countering for the Tigers will be righthanders Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez, and rookie Michael Fulmer. Rated as their top prospect by both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus, Fulmer was recalled by the Tigers last week and made his major league debut Friday versus the Minnesota Twins. 

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The Indians will be looking to get back on the winning track. Since sweeping the Tigers, last weekend they’ve lost five of their last six, all by just one run.  Hopefully getting both Carlos Santana and Mike Napoli back in the same lineup with the return of the designated hitter will help, although Napoli could be questionable as he’s dealing with a sore neck. The Indians will need to get off to a hot start this homestand as they look to turn the page on April and get back into the division in May.

Keys to the Series

The Indians have lost five of their last six games, all by a single run. Three times they lost on a walk-off hit, twice against the Twins and once against the Phillies. The Indians have shown the ability to stay in games but need to find a way to put them away. They have also not been able to get a complete game put together recently. Either they pitch well and can’t hit (Phillies series) or actually hit but the pitching breaks down (Minnesota series).

On the year the Indians offense actually ranks sixth in the American League in runs per game at 4.18. That’s above the league average of about 4.0 per game. However, the Indians offense also ranks just ninth in wRC+ (weighted runs created) at 94, which is below league average.  The Indians will get the designated hitter back, as mentioned above, however, they still need to get more consistent and the strikeouts aren’t helping. The Indians offense is currently striking out at the fourth highest clip (24.7%) in the American League. Strikeouts are a part of the game so they are to be expected, but it should be noted that the three teams with worse strikeouts rates in the American League are all averaging less than four runs per game (Toronto, Houston, Tampa Bay).

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The Indians also need to get Michael Brantley going. He sat out Sunday’s game, likely as just a precautionary reason, and is hitting just .118 with a .334 OPS since returning from the disabled list. It has only been 19 plate appearances and few expected for him to come right in and be his former MVP-caliber self, but he needs to provide some offense, especially if he’ll be hitting in the middle of the Tribe’s lineup.