Cleveland Indians: Scouting the three-gamer in Detroit

If ever there was a way to lift morale in the wake of a devastating injury, playing the 2019 Detroit Tigers is probably it. But the Indians must capitalize.

The Cleveland Indians will head to the Motor City to take on the Tigers for a three-game series beginning Tuesday. The AL Central foes have not met since mid-July, a four-game set the Indians swept in convincing fashion.

Not much has changed since then for Detroit, except for the fact that Nicholas Castellanos no longer plays there. The Tigers are 7-17 in August, which is sadly an improvement on their 10-40 mark in June and July combined.

Plenty has changed for the Indians, however, most notably the all-but-season-ending injury to Jose Ramirez. Ramirez underwent hand surgery on Monday, and has received a timetable of 5-7 weeks before he can return to game activity, according to Cleveland.com.

It will be nothing short of a miracle if Ramirez appears in another regular-season game in 2019, so the Indians will have to give him another chance to swing a bat this year by making it into the playoffs without him.

As crippling as this development is to morale, it’s not impossible to overcome. Just ask the Yankees, who’ve been dealing with this type of bad luck all season long. It does, however, leave the Indians with a massive, MVP-caliber void in their lineup.

In any case, the Detroit Tigers have devolved into an organization that is just barely even trying to field a team, let alone win baseball games. The Tribe must exploit the Tigers’ futility beginning on Tuesday night, and carry as much momentum as possible into a weekend series against a similarly injury-riddled Rays club.

Probable Starters

Tuesday, 7:10 PM EST – RHP Adam Plutko vs. RHP Spencer Turnbull

Adam Plutko pitched a solid game against the Mets last week, keeping the Indians around but ultimately watching them lose in extras. He’s now coming off two straight quality starts against good teams in the Mets and Yankees.

Any time Plutko is able to navigate around his underlying numbers and keep the Indians in games, they have to find a way to win. The Tribe will look to reenact their 19-run explosion in his other most recent start, as opposed to the extra-inning loss in his last.

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Spencer Turnbull’s second-half numbers aren’t quite on par with his borderline Rookie of the Year first half. Since July 12, he’s rocking a 6.58 ERA. He’s still just as effective at inducing grounders as he has been all season, but more of his mistakes have begun clearing the fence of late.

Wednesday, 7:10 PM EST – RHP Aaron Civale vs. RHP Jordan Zimmermann

Aaron Civale was one out away from beginning his career with five straight quality starts last week in Queens. He’s striking out 21.7% of hitters and walking just 5.2%, though his strikeout rate has dropped in each of his last four games.

Jordan Zimmermann has had a terrible go at things at Comerica Park, evidenced by a home ERA of 8.18. He’s decent when it comes to inducing ground balls, but doesn’t strike many hitters out. His OPS allowed to lefties is .892, so look for the Tribe’s contingent of switch-hitters, along with Jason Kipnis and Mike Freeman, to go get him.

Thursday, 1:10 PM EST – RHP Mike Clevinger vs. LHP Daniel Norris

In an interesting bit of gamesmanship, the Indians will bump up Mike Clevinger to start Thursday, which will ensure his availability for the Twins series looming next weekend, according to Zack Meisel.

Clevinger is striking out 34.6% of opposing hitters since July 3, with a 47.4% ground ball rate in the same span. The Tigers have struck out in 26.5% of their plate appearances, the highest such rate in the league.

The Indians won’t have to face Matthew Boyd this week, instead getting Daniel Norris among Tigers southpaws. Norris has been utilized as something of an opener recently, making three consecutive starts of just three innings each.

Norris has faced considerably more righties than lefties, with the former having tagged him for a .290/.336/.490 slash line and 18 home runs.