Cleveland Indians Look to Keep Offense Rolling at Home vs. Yankees

Indians face Yankees as they look to creep out of AL Central cellar

You take the small victories where you can get them. The Cleveland Indians have a little bit of momentum that they hope to keep at Progressive Field where they haven’t had much luck. The Indians are 22-33 at home but are only a game behind the White Sox as they try to pull out of last place. Carlos Carrasco (11-8, 3.76) takes the mound as he comes off back-to-back nine-inning outings. He’ll face Yankees top prospect Luis Severino (0-1, 1.80) as he makes his second career start.

The Indians (51-59) took the last two games against the Twins while averaging 12.7 runs per game in the three-game series. The sudden explosion of offense came after dealing several players that were expected to be key contributors this season. The offense has become a juggernaut behind the bat of…Abraham Almonte?

Almonte has had an impressive debut, albeit just two games. He’s collected five hits in nine at-bats including two doubles and two home runs while knocking in four. The Indians will be without Ryan Raburn who was put on the bereavement list following the death of his wife’s grandmother. Zach Walters was called up to take his spot.

The Yankees (61-49) have held a share of or the lead outright in the AL East for 38 straight days, but the new look Blue Jays are quickly chasing them down and the Yankees have very little room for error after being swept by the Jays in the Bronx this weekend dropping their lead to just 1 1/2 games.

Michael Brantley has batted .522 over his last six games and is hitting .429 with two homers and three doubles during a nine-game hitting streak against the Yankees.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET at Progressive Field. SportsTime Ohio will have the TV coverage while WTAM 1100 AM and WMMS 100.7 FM will have the radio broadcast.

Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s series opener: