Indians vs. White Sox: Previewing the Crucial September Series

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Sep 11, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Cleveland Indians second baseman Michael Martinez (1) and outfielder Abraham Almonte (35) celebrate after the game against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. The Indians beat the Twins 7-1. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

The Cleveland Indians are off to Chicago in the hopes that they can whittle down their magic number when they take on the White Sox in a four-game series.

Let’s go back to August 28. The Cleveland Indians dropped to 73-56 after a 2-1 loss to the Texas Rangers, finishing off a 2-5 road trip, which caused the Tribe’s division lead over the Detroit Tigers to drop to 4.5 games. Fast forward two weeks and all that seems like a distant memory.

The Indians have gone 9-3 since that road trip, which has helped push their record to 83-59 and their division lead over the Tigers to seven games.

The Indians’ magic number now stands at 14 games with 20 games left, meaning that it will be a fight between the Indians, the Tigers and the Royals (who are third in the division, nine games back).

The Indians will look to whittle away at that magic number when they head to Chicago to take on the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox have had a disappointing season, as they currently stand at 68-74, which is good for fourth in the AL Central. Despite their struggles, the Sox are still a dangerous team, so look for them to make it a highly competitive series.

Next: Numbers to Know

Aug 25, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier (21) hits a walk off single against the Seattle Mariners during the ninth inning at U.S. Cellular Field. The White Sox won 7-6. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports /

Numbers to know

Todd Frazier is having another great power year, as his 35 home runs leads the White Sox and is tied for seventh in all of baseball. But the rest of Frazier’s numbers haven’t really translated into much to cheer about thus far in his first year in Chicago. He’s batting .213 with just 15 doubles and 118 strikeouts. Frazier has 109 total hits this year, which means that 32 percent of his hits this year have left the yard. Frazier has been struggling recently as well, he’s hitting .212 over his last 30 games.

7.30

It’s been a rough go of it for “Big Game” James Shields in 2016. Shields started the year with the San Diego Padres, and became a part of history when he gave up a home run to Bartolo Colon (Yeah, his year has been THAT rough).

Shields year hasn’t gotten much better since giving up the home run heard around the buffet. He joined the White Sox at the start of June and has gone 3-10 with a 7.30 ERA in 18 games since, so he is now 5-17 with a 6.01 ERA overall this year. Shields has been bad recently too, going 0-4 with a 10.71 ERA in his last seven starts. Oh yeah, and he’s starting game four for Chicago.

Next: Names to Know

Names to know

Tim Anderson

The White Sox are high on shortstop Tim Anderson, and for good reason. Anderson has hit .281 with seven home runs and 24 RBI since being called up in June, and he has complemented that with stellar play in the field as well.

Chicago was so high on Anderson that they released veteran Jimmy Rollins after calling Anderson up, which gave him the starting shortstop position. One of the things the White Sox want the youngster to work on is his ability to get on base, as he has only drawn nine free passes in 331 at-bats this year. Anderson has started to come along lately, drawing four walks over his last 99 at-bats.

Dan Jennings

The White Sox’s bullpen ERA is 3.71, which is good for 14th-best in baseball, and one of the reasons for that is Dan Jennings. Jennings is 4-3 with a 1.71 ERA in 57 appearances for the White Sox this year, and has been an anchor for the White Sox backend. What makes Jennings so dangerous is that he’s tough on batters from both sides of the plate. He has a 1.61 ERA against lefties compared to a 1.80 ERA against righties. Runs have been hard to come by against Jennings lately, as he hasn’t given up a run since August 24.

Next: Pitching Matchups

Sep 3, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) and Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer (47) celebrate during the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

Pitching matchups

Game one will feature the Indians’ Roberto Clemente Award nominee Carlos Carrasco (11-7, 3.15 ERA) going against Miguel Gonzalez (3-6, 3.81 ERA.) Carrasco has been en fuego lately, as he has gone 4-2 with a 3.23 ERA and 61 strikeouts over his past 47 1/3 innings. This will be Gonzalez’s second start since coming off the disabled list, and he’ll look to build on his first start where he threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings to get a win versus the Tigers.

Trevor Bauer (11-6, 3.86 ERA) takes the bump for the Tribe against Jose Quintana (11-10, 3.13 ERA) in game two. Bauer has pitched effectively thus far in September, as he’s gone 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA in two starts. Quintana will look to break his season-long snide against the Indians when he takes the mound. He has gone 0-2 with a 3.20 ERA in three starts against the Indians this year.

Josh Tomlin (11-8, 4.85 ERA) will re-enter the Indians’ rotation when he’ll toe the rubber in game three against Carlos Rodon (7-8, 3.80 ERA.) Tomlin is back in the starting fold due to Danny Salazar‘s injury, and here’s to hoping that Tomlin can put August in the rearview mirror, as he went 0-5 with an 11.48 ERA in August. Rodon is currently riding a five-start winning streak, and he threw the ball especially well in his last start, striking out a career-high nine over six innings to beat the Royals.

The Indians will give Mike Clevinger (2-2, 5.01 ERA) the ball against James Shields (5-17, 6.01 ERA) in the series finale. Clevinger has pitched well thus far in September in two quasi-starts. He has started two games in September but has only gone 5 2/3 innings between those starts. His first start was the infamous bullpen day, and he was on a pitch count the second day. Terry Francona is being very careful with Clevinger, so he might not go very deep into this outing, especially if the Indians offense can give him a lead early against Shields.

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Indians vs. White Sox: Previewing the Important Four-Game Series

The Cleveland Indians are off to Chicago in the hopes that they can whittle down their magic number when they take on the White Sox in a four-game series.

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