Cleveland Indians: Previewing the series against the Rangers

Probable Pitchers

RHP Trevor Bauer (CLE) vs. LHP Martin Perez (TEX)

Trevor Bauer capped off the first half with a big win over the Yankees. He pitched seven innings allowing just two runs and racking up seven strikeouts. Despite being invited and attending, Bauer didn’t get to pitch in the All-Star game. Although he supposedly offered to pitch for the National League as they were running low on arms.

Bauer has been a gem all through 2018. He leads all pitchers in WAR, has the second lowest ERA in the AL and has the lowest home runs allowed through nine innings. He has beaten these Rangers once this year, going 6.2 innings and allowing just two runs.

Martin Perez is having a rough year. April was terribly unkind to him as he had a 9.67 ERA in the month. He then suffered an injury that saw him miss over two months of action. Perez returned from the DL last week and pitched a beauty against the Orioles, going seven innings of one-run baseball.

RHP Carlos Carrasco (CLE) vs. RHP Bartolo Colon (TEX)

Carlos Carrasco makes his first start in over a week and he’ll look to top an impressive performance. He only had to work five innings as the offense gave him a huge double-digit lead. The Indians thought it would be best to limit his pitches as he had recently returned from the DL. Carrasco pitched in relief on Sunday against the Yankees and actually earned himself the win to make Cookie 11-5 on the year.

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Bartoloooooo! The Cleveland Indians will get to face Bartolo Colon for the first time in 2018. He’s still going strong in his age 45 season. Well, I use the word strong loosely. He has a 4.64 ERA with just 62 strikeouts. Big Sexy allowed three runs in six innings in his last start against the Boston Red Sox. He has yet to win a game in his three July starts.

RHP Mike Clevinger (CLE) vs. LHP Cole Hamels (TEX)

Mike Clevinger has hit a bit of a speed bump at this point in 2018. Maybe the break is what he needed. He suffered another loss at the hands of the Yankees. He allowed five runs in six innings and hasn’t been able to go past the six inning mark in his last four starts. Fortunately we know what Clevinger is capable of and that he has the potential for a rebound.

Cole Hamels is a potential trade piece for the Rangers. He may be making his audition in this outing. He has been linked back to the Phillies and the Yankees among others. It’ll be interesting to see where he ends up. But he still has a game to pitch and he pitched pretty well against Cleveland in his last outing going five innings with one run.