Fresh off a sweep of the Seattle Mariners, the Cleveland Indians return home for a three game series with the Atlanta Braves.
This series features two teams coming off opposite ends of sweeps. The Cleveland Indians swept the Seattle Mariners while the Atlanta Braves were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Cleveland will look to continue their winning ways against Atlanta who is looking to turn things around on the road. Atlanta’s starters have been flipped for Saturday’s doubleheader. Julio Teheran will start Game 1 while Touki Toussaint will start Game 2.
Game 1: April 20 4:10 P.M. – Corey Kluber (1-2) versus Julio Teheran (2-1)
Due to rain the first game of the series has been postponed and will be part of a traditional doubleheader Saturday.
The first game of the series features Corey Kluber on the bump for the Indians with Julio Teheran taking the hill for Atlanta.
There are a handful of Indians players who have faced Julio Teheran before and the results are not good. Carlos Gonzalez is 1-17 with three strikeouts. Leonys Martin is 0-4. Kevin Plawecki is 1-13 with five strikeouts. Hanley Ramirez is 0-4 with two strikeouts. Carlos Santana is 1-9 with two strikeouts, but has walked twice. Hopefully Cleveland will be able to turn things around in this matchup against a pitcher that has given up a fair share of runs to start the season.
There is only one player in the Braves lineup with an extensive track record against Corey Kluber. This also a person who spent a brief period of time with the Indians last season. Josh Donaldson. Donaldson is 7-19 lifetime against Kluber with one home run and five runs driven in. Corey Kluber will have to bounce back from his last start, a rough outing against Kansas City, to come away with a win Friday. Atlanta is capable of doing damage and Kluber will need to limit that as best as he can.
Game 2: April 20 TBD – Trevor Bauer (2-1) versus Touki Toussaint (1-0)
This is the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader that will take place after the postponed first game.
Trevor Bauer looks to continue his strong start to the season in the second game of the series. Bauer has been absolutely dominant on the mound this year. Atlanta will provide a tough test for Bauer as some members of the Braves have had previous success against him. Josh Donaldson is 2-7 with a double and three RBI’s. Tyler Flowers is 4-9 with a double and a homer. Freddie Freeman is 3-5 with two doubles. Brian McCann is 5-19 with a double and two home runs.
Touki Toussaint is fresh off his 2019 debut against the New York Mets. An outing which saw Toussaint allow four hits over six innings and get the win. Cleveland will need to limit the strikeouts against Toussiant, who had seven against the Mets.
Game 3: April 21 7:00 P.M. – Shane Bieber (2-0) versus Max Fried (2-0)
The final game of the series is in primetime, Sunday Night Baseball and the pitching matchup could not be better. Two young pitchers who have pitched extremely well to start the season in Shane Bieber and Max Fried. Bieber and Fried have both been lights out thus far and will look to keep on rolling while the bright lights shine.
In Bieber’s three starts he has only allowed three runs in 19 innings while striking out 20. In Fried’s three starts he has only allowed two runs in 18 while striking out 12. The two runs that Fried allowed came in his last start against Arizona.
Both pitchers have been stingy to start the year and this could end up being a pitcher’s duel. The first team to score may end up winning the game. Of course that all depends on whether Bieber and Fried can continue their dominant starts and not have a bad outing.
