Cleveland Indians: Previewing the weekender with KC

The Cleveland Indians will look to get back on track against the Royals after a promising start to a New York road trip ended in disappointment.

There is a considerable amount of doom and gloom surrounding the Cleveland Indians after being swept at the hands of the Mets. The bats went alarmingly cold after an impressive weekend in the Bronx, and the Tribe scored just five runs in three games against New York’s NL franchise.

The back end of the bullpen suddenly looks more like a liability than a strength. Brad Hand blew his third consecutive save in the second game of the series, while his companions in the relief corps combined to give up five earned runs in the first one.

The Indians are now 3.5 games back of the Twins, and perhaps more alarmingly, would not even make the playoffs as a wild card team if the season ended today. With all of these admittedly disconcerting factors contributing to the somber mood in Tribe Town, it’s easy to lose perspective. So let me help with that.

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The month of August was supposed to be the toughest stretch of the Indians’ schedule, and it has proven to be. Since Game 1 of the Astros series, which began on July 30, the Indians are 12-11. Not ideal, but let’s look past the overall record and focus on how they arrived at it: a home sweep of the Angels, a 3-1 series victory over the Twins, a doubleheader sweep to earn a 2-1 series win over the Rangers, and a 2-2 series split with the Yankees who, by the way, had the best record in the American League when that series started.

Yes, the most recent midweek meetings with the Red Sox and Mets were disappointing, especially because the Tribe should have won two against Boston and one against the Mets.

But a 12-11 stretch against all three AL division leaders, the team playing the best baseball in the NL, and the defending World Series champions who are much better than their record? A 5-1 showing against the good-but-not-great Rangers and Angels? Without the top three pitchers from the Tribe’s Opening Day rotation?

I’m not exactly mailing it in after that.

The Indians were due for gravity to take hold of them at some point; their combined winning percentage in June and July was .700. You do that for 162 games and your record is 113-49. Of course they weren’t going to keep that up.

Now is the time to batten down the hatches and get back to playing winning baseball, yes. But it is far from the time to give up. Let’s leave the last three days where they belong, and focus on what’s in front of us: a familiar foe in the Kansas City Royals.

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday, 7:10 PM EST – RHP Zach Plesac vs. RHP Jakob Junis

Zach Plesac’s pitching style has recently caught up to him against the American League’s better hitting teams. Three of his last four starts have come against Houston, Boston and New York, and he has given up 11 earned runs across 14.2 innings in those appearances.

Quite simply, when you allow contact as often as Plesac does, the good teams are going to make that contact count. Plesac’s last two outings against the Royals have been a different story, for obvious reasons. He logged 13 innings and gave up two total earned runs in those starts, while striking out 10.

Jakob Junis has made three appearances in August, all of them qualifying as quality starts. He’s given up six earned runs in 18.1 innings this month. The last time he saw the Indians, they tattooed him for six earned runs on 10 hits on July 26.

Saturday, 7:10 PM EST – RHP Mike Clevinger vs. RHP Glenn Sparkman

The Yankees and Red Sox were able to get Mike Clevinger’s pitch counts up early on in his last two outings; both teams got him off the mound before the sixth inning, a feat which had not been accomplished by any team since June.

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Despite not going especially deep into the game, Clevinger shut out the Yankees for five innings and sent 10 hitters packing via the strikeout. Clevinger has made two starts against Kansas City this season, logging 13 total innings and allowing one total earned run.

In Glenn Sparkman’s last two outings against the Tribe, he’s given up 12 earned runs in 10.2 innings. He has struck out just 13.4% of opposing hitters this season, which won’t play well against the Indians if their bats come alive after a miserable three days at Citi Field.

It’s worth noting that Sparkman will enter Saturday on a high note after notching two straight quality starts against the Cardinals and Mets. His ERA the first time through opposing lineups is 6.75, so look for the Tribe to jump on him early.

Sunday, 1:10 PM EST – RHP Shane Bieber vs. RHP Jorge Lopez

If there were such a stat as Unearned Losses, Shane Bieber would be coming off two in a row. He pitched exactly six innings with two earned runs allowed in each of his last two outings, but was tagged with the loss in both.

It’s been an interesting two-start stretch for Bieber, as he’s had to deal with two tough lineups that made things extremely difficult on him from the outset. He didn’t buckle under the pressure in either one, though he also didn’t receive any run support.

Jorge Lopez only recently resumed his role in the Royals rotation after a three-month stint as a reliever. He’s seen the Indians six times out of the bullpen this season, and they’ve gotten to him for at least one run in four of those meetings.

Lopez is allowing an even 1.000 OPS to lefties. Jose Ramirez has a 199 wRC+ against righties since the All-Star break. Take that for what it’s worth.