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

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.