The 6-3 Cleveland Indians travel to Detroit to take on the current American League Central leading 7-2 Tigers in a three game series beginning April 9.
It is a battle for first place in the American League Central between the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers. Currently Detroit is leading the division but the Tribe are hot not their tail.
Game 1: April 9 1:10 P.M. – Corey Kluber (0-2) versus Jordan Zimmermann (0-0)
The first game in the series features two pitchers who have gotten off to two entirely different starts. Corey Kluber has struggled to start the year while Jordan Zimmermann has pitched well. Past performance dictates that both of these trends will reverse sooner rather than later. Later could be this week in Detroit.
There are two batters in the Tigers lineup that have given Kluber trouble over the years. Miguel Cabrera and Nicholas Castellanos. Cabrera having success is not surprise, he has pretty much punished everyone over the course of his career. Cabrera is a .365 hitter against Kluber in 65 at-bats with three doubles, six home runs and 12 runs batted in. Castellanos is 12-45 with two doubles and two RBI’s. Jeimer Candelario has struggled against Kluber going 1-12 and Gordon Beckham is 1-13.
The Indians feature three batters who have absolutely lit up Jordan Zimmerman. Jose Ramirez is 5-10 with two triples, a home run and five RBI’s. Hanley Ramirez is 10-28 with two doubles, a home run and six runs batted in. Carlos Santana is 3-10 with two doubles, a home run and two RBI’s. The first game will come down to whether each pitcher can limit the batter’s that have had success against him previously.
Game 2: April 10 1:10 P.M. – Trevor Bauer (1-0) versus Matthew Boyd (0-1)
In a similar trend of Detroit’s Jordan Zimmermann, Trevor Bauer has had a fantastic start to the year. The difference here is that it is more likely that Bauer continues his performance on the mound. Another similar theme is that Miguel Cabrera and Nicholas Castellanos are the only Detroit batters that give Bauer trouble. Cabrera is 10-29 with two doubles and a home run while Castellanos 10-37 with three doubles and a home run. Jeimer Candelario has also struggled against Bauer, going 0-11.
Of the Indians batters due to be in the lineup Wednesday, only a few have had any sort of success against Matthew Boyd. Jose Ramirez is 5-18 with a triple, a homer and one run batted in. Hanley Ramirez is 2-3 with a home run. Outside of that there is not a lot of previous success. Carlos Santana is 1-13 with a double. Tyler Naquin is 0-1 and Jake Bauers is 0-3. Cleveland will need players to step up and take advantage of a pitcher susceptible to getting beat.
Game 3: April 11 1;10 P.M. – Shane Bieber (0-0) versus Spencer Turnbull (0-0)
The third and final game of the series features two pitchers with not a lot of past history against either team. Overall Shane Bieber struggled against Detroit, but the sample size is quite small. Jeimer Candelario and Nicholas Castellanos both have the most at-bats against Bieber with six. Candelario and Castellanos went 2-6 and 1-6 against Bieber respectively. While as a rookie Bieber may have been too focused on just throwing strikes, this season Bieber appears ready to strike out more batters. The previous focus on throwing strikes led to the occasional poor performance, giving up a lot of hits and/or runs. Perhaps his new approach will bring him success against the Tigers Thursday.
Detroit’s starter Spencer Turnbull has only faced two Indians batters in his career, Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor. Kipnis is currently on a rehab assignment with Columbus with no timetable for his return and Lindor is out for a few more weeks. Turnbull has started two games this season and given up 10 hits and five runs combined. Turnbull has also walked four batters in 11 innings. The Indians will need to be patient against a pitcher who has a career ERA over 5 and make sure to get good pitches to hit. If they can do that there is not a reason that they cannot come out victorious.
