Pregame Notes: Cleveland Indians look to right the ship on Larry Doby Day

The Cleveland Indians have been pummeled in the first two games of this weekend’s showdown with the Chicago White Sox and have fallen another game back (now 6.5) in the wild card chase. Their sputtering offense, once again, has been absent against Jeff Samardzija and Jose Quintana.

Yet, it doesn’t get any easier.

Cleveland will go toe to toe with White Sox ace Chris Sale on Saturday evening who, after his red-hot stretch in June, has cooled off a bit in July. The young lefty has been plagued by the long ball as of late, as he’s allowed multiple home runs in two of three starts this month.

Sale is coming off a loss to the Kansas City Royals last Sunday. The 26-year-old ace allowed two home runs in the start, surrendering four earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched.

For the Tribe, Carlos Carrasco gets the ball after two consecutive quality starts and five quality appearances in his last six chances. Carrasco is 10-7 with a 3.94 ERA over 19 starts this season and 1-1 against the Sox.

Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s match-up:

Jason Kipnis gets a breather as the Indians, with the exception of Michael Brantley and Brandon Moss, fill their lineup with right-handed bats with Sale on the bump.

News & Notes:

-The Indians unveiled the newest addition to Progressive Field this afternoon, adding Tribe legend Larry Doby to their growing collection of bronzed statues. Doby broke the American League color barrier just months after Jackie Robinson debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15. He spent nine seasons with the Tribe and helped the Indians win a World Series in 1948. Doby had a career .283 average with 253 home runs. He led the league with 32 home runs and 126 RBIs in 1954.

-After another hard-luck loss last night, Corey Kluber joined Kyle Lohse, Kyle Kendrick and Aaron Harang with an MLB-worst 11 losses on the season. Despite the losses, Kluber has posted 3.59 ERA and 2.54 FIP this season.

-In dyer need of some pop from the right side of the late, the Tribe called up slugger Jesus Aguilar before yesterday’s game. Aguilar singled in his first at-bat before fanning in his next two plate appearances.

Next: Tribe should move Moss before deadline