Cleveland Indians: Previewing the series vs. the Detroit Tigers

Probable Pitchers

RHP Mike Fiers (DET) vs RHP Shane Bieber (CLE)

Mike Fiers wasn’t at his best in his last outing. In fact, he has an ERA of 5.06 in that game. But the Tigers stayed in the game and he went out as a no-decision. Despite his struggles this season, Fiers has pitched pretty well against the Tribe this year.

Figures that a pitcher with a 4.09 ERA would still have a 1.38 ERA against Cleveland. The Indians will have to take advantage of Fiers low strikeout numbers, although he does have 13 of his 54 strikeouts against the Tribe.

Fiers will be facing the new kid on the block who pitched a beauty in his last outing. Shane Bieber earned his first win against the Twins to the tune of seven strikeouts and only one walk. Bieber is a pitcher with remarkable command. If he can keep the Tigers in check with XBH’s he should be fine. The Tigers get a lot of XBH’s but they always do since they play in Comerica Park.

TBA (DET) vs RHP Trevor Bauer

The Tigers don’t even know who to put on the mound against Trevor Bauer; he’s been that good!

In all honesty, Trevor Bauer is white hot right now. He pitched a shutout against the White Sox on Monday and has dominated the Tigers all year. Bauer has worked 23 innings against Detroit and has struck out 29 Tigers hitters. He has an ERA of 1.17 against them. Bauer has only gotten better as the season has gone on it seems and he’s developing into a Cy Young candidate.

LHP Matthew Boyd (DET) vs RHP Adam Plutko (CLE)

Team’s should just stop sending lefties to the mound against the Tribe. The Indians are batting .265 as a team against lefties. Matthew Boyd has been able to avoid this lineup since their April meeting and he’s done the best of any lefty against the Indians. He worked seven innings of three-hit baseball and allowed only one run against Cleveland.

Adam Plutko hasn’t started since he allowed five runs in four innings against the White Sox. He’s since been in the bullpen and is set to make his return. The circumstances in this game are a bit larger as Plutko is now facing a division foe trying to stay a few games back of the Tribe. I’ve talked about the long-ball plaguing Plutko in all of his starts. He’ll get a chance to stop that plague against a struggling Tigers lineup.