Cleveland Indians: Previewing the series against the Royals

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(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

The Cleveland Indians are playing some great baseball, and they’ll look to continue that trend against the lowly Kansas City Royals.

Another wonderful weekend series comes to us, this time the Cleveland Indians will be on the road for it. The second road trip of the year for the Tribe rolls on as they head to play the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

This weekend should give us some interesting action as the Indians will be sending a new starter to the mound on Saturday due to the injury to Mike Clevinger. But the Indians will carry on and look to continue their hot stretch of hitting.

Projected Lineups

Cleveland Indians (8-4): CF Leonys Martin, 3B Jose Ramirez, LF Jake Bauers, 1B Carlos Santana, DH Hanley Ramirez, RF Tyler Naquin, C Roberto Perez, 2B Brad Miller, SS Eric Stamets

Kansas City Royals (2-10): 2B Whit Merrifield, SS Adalberto Mondesi, LF Alex Gordon, RF Jorge Soler, 1B Ryan O’Hearn, 3B Hunter Dozier, DH Lucas Duda, C Martin Maldonado, CF Chris Owings

There’s a chance that we will see Carlos Gonzales and Jason Kipnis return for the Indians this weekend. It’s a stretch but a possibility. If they aren’t back for this series, they should in Seattle next week.

As for the Royals, well… who are these guys? These aren’t your dad’s Royals, they aren’t even the Royals from two years ago. The lineup is a shell of itself, to say the least.

Pitching Matchups

RHP Carrasco (CLE) vs. RHP Keller (KC)

Carlos Carrasco completely turned things around from his first start. He completely dominated the Toronto Blue Jays. He racked up 12 strikeouts through five innings becoming the first pitcher in the modern era to do so. Outings like this are what make the Indians rotation so dominant. Carrasco will look to bring his ERA down even further against this underwhelming Royals lineup.

Brad Keller has pitched three strong outings so far this year touting an ERA of 2.84. Last year he had a 1.46 ERA against the Tribe in for games, so the Indians certainly have their work cut out for them in this outing.

RHP Rodriguez (CLE) vs. RHP Bailey (KC)

Jefry Rodriguez will make his first start for the Cleveland Indians after coming over from the Washington Nationals in the Yan Gomes trade. He’s pitched in Triple-A Columbus in just one game where he got a little roughed up allowing 3 runs in 5.2 innings. He pitched 8 games for the Nats last year to the tune of an ERA over 5.00.

Homer Bailey was rocked by the Mariners in his last outing allowing seven runs in five innings. He’s only pitched 10 innings this year in his first year with the Royals, but he has struggled in the last three years against the Tribe. In four games against Cleveland in the last three years, he has an 8.44 ERA.

RHP Kluber (CLE) vs. RHP Junis (KC)

Corey Kluber seemed a little shaky to some fans, but he went out and dominated the Tigers in his third start of the year. Now, game number four comes against another division foe that Kluber has absolutely dominated.

Jacob Junis is another starter who was rocked by the powerhouse Mariners offense. He’s allowed at least three earned runs in every start he’s made this year and he will have his hands full with an Indians lineup that has beaten up on him since he came into the league.

Storylines

Dominate the division

There is a reason the Cleveland Indians have won the AL Central the last three years. They absolutely dominate the competition in their division. They can continue that trend against a lowly Royals team that is still in the midst of a lengthy rebuild. They dropped the first series against Minnesota this year, but took two of three against the Tigers and can easily win this weekend series as well.

Worst/Best Case

Worst case: 1-2 series loss

I don’t think the Indians have too much to worry about with this series, but with a rookie on the mound, it could take two bad starts to make this series go sour. I don’t see it happening but the Indians lineup is still looking for consistency not having it here could hurt them.

Best case: 3-0 series win

This could be an easy win for the Tribe if they play their cards right. They have the bats and the pitching to dominate this Royals team as they have for the last three years. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see the Indians come away with another weekend sweep.

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The series starts Friday at 8:10 and continues through Sunday.

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