The Cleveland Indians will continue their home stand as they take on the New York Yankees in a critical three game series.
Facing the New York Yankees is never an easy task, but that is just what the Cleveland Indians will do this weekend. Fresh off a series win against the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland will look to win their second straight series. The pitching rotation for this series is not the expected trio. Carlos Carrasco’s blood condition made changes to the rotation necessary.
The trio of Zach Plesac, Adam Plutko and Shane Bieber will get the call for the Tribe. Plesac has been quiet impressive through his first two starts, but this will be his toughest test yet. New York can hit with the best of them and the return of Didi Gregorius makes that lineup even more deadly. The Plutko start will be entirely reliant on whether or not he can generate soft contact. This has not been a strength in his career and could result in a rather short outing Saturday. Bieber has had great and not so great performances this season. Bieber will look to build upon his strong performance last time out in the series finale.
Offensively the Indians will need to string together runs by any means necessary. New York will be starting Domingo German, C.C. Sabathia and Masahiro Tanka. Sabathia and Tanaka have given Cleveland trouble in the past and their ability to stay out of the middle of the zone consistently will prove troublesome. Cleveland will need to go the other way with the ball and stop trying to pull everything in sight. If the Indians can manage to string together hits instead of attempting to rely on the long ball with a clear lack of power in the lineup, they could come out as the victors in this series. If not, it could be a long three games.
