Cleveland Indians Travel to Washington for Two-Game Series

Cleveland Indians at Washington Nationals Series Preview 8/9 to 8/10

The Cleveland Indians (62-47) head to the nation’s capital to take on the first-place Washington Nationals (66-45)  in a brief two-game interleague series. The Indians enter the series with a 2.5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central division while the Nationals have opened a 7.5 game lead in the National League East. This is the second time the two clubs have met after they split a two-game series in Cleveland just two weeks ago.

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The pitching probables for the series are as follows:

"Tuesday (8/9): RHP Trevor Bauer (7-5, 4.08 ERA) vs RHP Max Scherzer (12-6, 2.87)Wednesday (8/10): RHP Josh Tomlin (11-4, 3.81) vs LHP Gio Gonzalez (7-9, 4.13)"

The Indians will look for some better performances from both Bauer and Tomlin as both were hit hard in their last outings. Bauer was tagged for eight runs (seven earned) in just 2 2/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins back on August 3rd. Tomlin was at least able to work into the 5th inning in his last start against the New York Yankees, but he too allowed seven earned runs in just 4 2/3 innings.

Max Scherzer will look to continue his strong season for the Nationals as he looks to try and win the Cy Young, which is now pretty open due to the Clayton Kershaw injury. Lefty Gio Gonzalez will get the ball in the finale. He faced the Indians in their first meeting, throwing 6 1/3 strong innings allowing just two runs in a no-decision.

The Indians will look to keep their hot offense sizzling despite the tough pitching matchups. Prior to only scoring two runs in the finale in New York, the Tribe had scored at least five runs in every game dating back to their walk-off win against the Nationals on July 27th when the scored just four. For the season, the Tribe is second in the American League in runs per game, averaging just a tick under five per game (4.99).

The team will need guys like Jason Kipnis, Mike Napoli, and Tyler Naquin to remain hot at the plate, especially with the news that Michael Brantley has had another setback. Napoli and Naquin each have an OPS over 1.000 since the All-Star break while the later is coming off back-to-back hot months, winning the American League Rookie of the Month award twice.

Next: Indians Prepare for Busy Schedule

This will be the final interleague series on the road for the Indians in 2016, meaning this will be the last time their starting pitchers will have to bat on the season. The Tribe does have one more interleague series, a three-game home set against the Miami Marlins.  Following their brief two-game series in Washington, the Indians will head home to begin ten-game homestand, starting with the Los Angels Angels of Anaheim Friday night.