The first place Cleveland Indians continue their road trip and travel to Kansas City to take on the Royals for a three game weekend series.
Cleveland will travel to Kansas City fresh off a series win against Detroit. The Indians currently sit at 8-4 and atop the American League Central. Through 12 games the Royals are averaging 4.5 runs per game while the Indians are averaging 3.6. Neither offense has performed well thus far, but both will look to turn things around this weekend.
Game 1: April 12 8:15 P.M. – Carlos Carrasco (1-1) versus Brad Keller (1-1)
The first game of the series features two pitchers with 1-1 records. A lack of run support has cost Brad Keller the chance to win while a bad first outing has inflated Carlos Carrasco’s numbers.
Historically Carlos Carrasco has dominated the Royals. The only player with success against Cookie is Whit Merrifield. Merrifield is 7-17 with two doubles, a triple, a home run and four RBI’s. Outside of Merrifield the Royals are 15-86 against Carrasco with 29 strikeouts.
The Indians do not have a lot of history against Brad Keller, so it is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to results. Greg Allen is 2-3, Jose Ramirez is 1-3, Jordan Luplow is 0-3 and Hanley Ramirez is 0-2. Leonys Martin, Roberto Perez and Brad Miller are all 0-1. Cleveland will need to be patient against Keller who has walked seven batters in his last two starts.
Game 2: April 13 7:15 P.M – Jefry Rodriguez (0-0) versus Homer Bailey (0-1)
The Indians called up Jefry Rodriguez for a spot start due to the injury to Mike Clevinger. Rodriguez is expected to be sent down after the start and the Indians will go with a four man rotation in the short-term. Appearing in 14 games with the Nationals last year, Rodriguez did not exactly pitch well. Rodriguez averaged 7.4 hits allowed, 6.8 strikeouts, 6.4 walks and 1.4 home runs per nine innings. Hopefully facing a lackluster Royals offense will be beneficial to Rodriguez.
Only a handful of players have faced Homer Bailey in a large enough sample size. Kevin Plawecki is 3-8 with four RBI’s against Bailey. All three hits are extra-base hits, two home runs and a double. Hanley Ramirez is 5-21, also with two home runs, a double and four runs batted in. Carlos Santana has two hits in 13 at-bats, one of which was a double. Jose Ramirez has two hits in six at-bats against Bailey. One of his two hits was also of the extra-base variety, a home run. Greg Allen also has one hit in three at-bats against the Royals starter. Jordan Luplow and Max Moroff are a combined 0-5 against Homer Bailey.
Game 3: April 14 2:15 P.M. – Corey Kluber (1-2) versus Jakob Junis (1-1)
The Cleveland Indians got exactly what they needed out of Corey Kluber in his last start. Kluber will look to build upon that when facing Kansas City Sunday. Historically Kluber has shut down Kansas City. Lucas Duda leads the Royals in batting average against Kluber. With a .313 average in 16 at-bats, Duda also has one home run against the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Whit Merrifield is 8-33 with one double, one home run and five RBI’s while striking out four times. Alex Gordon is 8-56 with two doubles, two home runs, six runs batted in and 22 strikeouts.
The Indians get a favorable matchup against Jakob Junis. Junis has struggled against Cleveland in the past and could continue on Sunday. Leonys Martin is 3-10 with a double. Jose Ramirez is 5-13 with two doubles and two walks. Carlos Santana is 3-4, Brad Miller is 1-4 and Tyler Naquin is 1-2. The only three Indians batters who are hitless against Junis are Greg Allen (0-4), Hanley Ramirez (0-3) and Roberto Perez (0-1). Cleveland should be able to get to Junis in the final game of the series.
