Cleveland Indians: Previewing the visit to Tampa Bay

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The Cleveland Indians have an opportunity to create some separation in the AL wild card chase with a three-game series against the Rays.

The Cleveland Indians have gotten used to playing “must-win” games. They’ve essentially been fighting for their playoff lives since the end of May.

While their ultimate focus is to overtake the Twins atop the American League Central, the AL Wild Card game remains a very real possibility for the Tribe. A Labor Day weekend duel with the Tampa Bay Rays will have plenty to say about how that all shakes out in a month.

The Rays find themselves one game out of the second wild card spot behind Oakland, while Cleveland holds down the first wild card position by a margin of 1.5 games. A lopsided series one way or the other has the power to swing that pendulum further in either direction.

The Indians are catching Tampa Bay in the middle of a rough stretch. The Rays lost four in a row earlier this week prior to staving off a sweep at the hands of the Astros on Thursday. They’ve lost six of their last 10, including a 3-4 showing against the lowly Mariners and Orioles.

Tampa Bay is also battling a fair share of injuries. Kevin Kiermaier has been day-to-day of late, relievers Yonny Chirinos and Jose Alvarado are on the 10-day IL, and Brandon Lowe is out for the season in truly morale-crushing fashion.

They’ll get no sympathy from the Indians, and ideally won’t be given any mercy, either. Let’s scout out an AL East foe the Indians don’t see very often (under the pretense that all games are played as scheduled despite the imminent landfall of a hurricane).

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – JULY 26: Starting pitcher Zach Plesac #65 of the Cleveland Indians catches a foul ball hit by Bubba Starling #11 of the Kansas City Royals in the sixth inning at Kauffman Stadium on July 26, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

Projected Starters

Friday, 7:10 PM EST – RHP Shane Bieber vs. RHP Austin Pruitt

Shane Bieber has thrown seven quality starts in a row, but only has a 3-3 record to show for it. A lack of run support has plagued the blossoming ace of late. During this span that dates back to July 24, Bieber is striking out 30.1% of hitters while walking just 4.1%.

If his offense is going to finally come through for him, they have the right matchup in which to do it. Austin Pruitt has been used sporadically in what’s primarily been a bulk relief role this season, with mixed results.

His most recent outing was a 5.2-inning bullpen appearance in which he gave up six earned runs and three homers. Pruitt induces ground balls at a 52.1% clip with a middling strikeout rate of 20%. The Tribe must capitalize with their best pitcher on the mound against the inconsistent righty.

Saturday, 6:10 PM EST – RHP Zach Plesac vs. TBD

As is often the case with the Rays, their pitching plan for any given series is fluid. The team that pioneered the “opener” movement is not as traditionally easy to scout as most clubs.

Position Players to Watch

Shortstop Willy Adames is likely to hit at the bottom of Tampa Bay’s lineup, but he’s not to be taken lightly. A right-handed hitter, Adames is strangely more effective against right-handed pitching than he is against southpaws by a long shot.

He leads all Rays hitters in wRC+ against righties since the All-Star break. Naturally, he’ll face three of them against the Indians this weekend.

Lefty Austin Meadows got off to an electrifying start to 2019, then cooled off a great deal in June. Well, he’s back again in the form of an .886 OPS in the second half, with a season-high eight home runs in August.

Meadows is a fixture in the top-third of the Rays lineup, and owns a 142 wRC+ against righties. Expect the Indians to see scrappy plate appearances much like the ones they dealt with earlier this month, as opposed to the relatively stress-free efforts from the Royals and Tigers in the last week.

Small Stories, Big Picture

Payback time – The Indians failed to capitalize on home field advantage in their previous meeting with Tampa Bay, dropping three of four at Progressive Field and being outscored 20-10 the last time these teams got together.

That series took place in late May, before the summer surge the Indians put together to climb back into contention. The Rays aren’t the same team they were back then, either, but in the opposite way.

Tampa Bay wrapped that four-game set up with a 31-19 record and looked every bit like they might give the Yankees a season-long run for their money in the AL East. Since the calendar turned to June, however, the Rays are just 42-38 with a negative run differential.

The Indians owe the Rays a taste of their own medicine as both teams look to hit the home stretch on a high note.

The return of an old friend – Carlos Carrasco is scheduled to be activated for Sunday’s game. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him as the first reliever out of the bullpen when Plutko’s day is done. Whatever results he’s able to provide if he plays are a distant secondary concern to the Indians. All that matters is that he’s healthy and reunited with his teammates.

The approaching storm – As was alluded to above, a hurricane is set to hit the east coast this weekend. Naturally, the state of Florida often takes the brunt of these tropical storms. As a result, we could be looking at some scheduling changes in a worst-case scenario.

Nothing has been determined one way or the other yet, but for those of you planning your weekend around catching Indians baseball, just be prepared for the possibility of a Saturday doubleheader or an earlier-than-usual Sunday start (or something along those lines).

Next. The casual excellence of Francisco Lindor. dark

First pitch is at 7:10 eastern time Friday, as Shane Bieber aims for his eighth straight quality start and a tone-setting victory.

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