Indians continue home stand against White Sox

Fresh off a series win, the Cleveland Indians will continue their home stand with a four game series against the struggling Chicago White Sox.

The Cleveland Indians are hosting the Chicago White Sox for the second time this season. Chicago came to Cleveland for the first home series of the season. The two teams split the two game series. Unfortunately for the Indians their two starters from that series (Corey Kluber and Mike Clevinger), are currently injured. Cleveland will look to take this series against the White Sox.

Game 1: May 6 6:10 P.M. Trevor Bauer (4-1) versus Ivan Nova (0-3)

There are three White Sox batters who have a track record of success against Trevor Bauer. Jose Abreu is 12-43 with three doubles and three runs driven in. Yonder Alonso has five hits in 14 at-bats with a home run and two RBI’s. Yoan Moncada is 4-13 with a solo home run off of Bauer. Bauer has a 2.45 ERA this season and will look to continue his dominant start to the season in the series opener.

Back on April 1st Ivan Nova took the hill for Chicago and pitched fairly well. Nova allowed one run on six hits in seven innings. This was one of two appearances that Nova only allowed one run this season. In the other 18.1 innings Nova has allowed 27 runs. Nova has allowed six home runs in his last two starts. Now that Cleveland has a more formidable lineup than the home opener they may be able to score more runs against Nova than the first home game of the season.

Game 2: May 7 6:10 P.M. Jefry Rodriguez (0-1) versus Lucas Giolito (2-1)

Jefry Rodriguez has started two games this season and the Indians are 1-1 in his starts despite his 0-1 record. In 12.2 innings Rodriguez has allowed three runs on eight hits and struck out six. Rodriguez will look to build upon his strong performance in the second game of this series.

There are only a handful of batters who have previously faced Lucas Giolito in the past with success. Carlos Gonzalez and Jason Kipnis are both 1-3. Jose Ramirez is the only Indians batter to hit an extra-base hit against Giolito. Both of his two hits are of the extra-base variety, a double and a home run. The only other player with a run driven in is Francisco Lindor, who is 1-6 in his career against Giolito. Cleveland will look to take advantage of a pitcher who is susceptible to giving up multiple runs per outing.

Game 3: May 8 6:10 P.M. Shane Bieber (2-1) versus Reynaldo Lopez (2-4)

Shane Bieber is off to a strong start in 2019 and should continue his run against the White Sox. Five White Sox hitters have hits against Bieber in the past, Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, James McCann, Yoan Moncada and Yolmer Sanchez. Moncada is the only one with multiple hits (2) against Bieber. Wellington Castillo, Ryan Cordell and Nicky Delmonico are all hitless. Bieber’s lone bad start was against Atlanta where he surrendered five runs in just 2.1 innings. Luckily for Bieber, Chicago is not as talented as Atlanta and is unlikely to duplicate this performance.

Three Indians batters have a history of success against Reynaldo Lopez. Leonys Martin is an impressive 5-7 against Lopez and has also walked twice. Martin is dealing with an injury and may miss some time in this series. Jose Ramirez is 2-7 with a home and three runs driven in against the Chicago right hander. Carlos Santana also has a couple of hits against Lopez who has gone 2-3 previously.

Game 4: May 9 1:10 P.M. Carlos Carrasco (2-3) versus Manny Banuelos (2-1)

Carlos Carrasco has largely dominated the White Sox in his career and has held Chicago to a .190 /.229/.329/.558 slash line. Although Jose Abreu, Yonder Alonso, Tim Anderson and Yolmer Sanchez have homered against Carrasco in the past. Of White Sox players with more than 10 at-bats against Carrasco, Anderson is the only player hitting above .220. Carrasco is coming off of two so-so outings, allowing four runs in each of his last two starts. With his previous success against Chicago, Carrasco should be able to turn things around in the series finale.