Series Preview: Cleveland Indians look to stay hot against Detroit

The Cleveland Indians return home to Progressive Field this weekend to face a familiar foe in the Detroit Tigers for the second consecutive weekend series.

After routing the Tigers for three straight days last weekend, the Cleveland Indians will once again take on their division rivals for another three games, but the series could look a lot different this time around.

The arrival of a handful of prospects will shape this series in a much different way than a week ago. Offensively the Tigers added Isaac Paredes to their lineup while the Indians activated Roberto Perez from the IL. As for the guys on the mound, Cleveland will get their first look at Tarik Skubal while narrowly avoiding a matchup against one of the top prospects in baseball, Casey Mize.

The Indians will also be debuting a new arm during the series. After being called up on Thursday, 23-year-old Triston McKenzie, the club’s No. 9 prospect, will take the hill for his first major league start, projected to face Detroit’s Matthew Boyd.

Before we jump too far into the next series, we have to take a look at the last one between these teams. In Detroit last weekend the Indians completed the three-game sweep in the Motor City, outscoring the Tigers 21-11. Saturday’s game was the closest of the bunch as the Indians snuck away with a 3-1 victory. As for the other two days, Cleveland’s dormant offense was awoken, and with a vengeance, unleashing 10 runs on Friday in a 10-5 win before scoring eight on Sunday in a 8-5 win to clinch the series sweep.

The three wins also continued an impressive run of now 20 straight wins against Detroit for Cleveland, dating back to April 11, 2019. The Tigers’ last win over the Tribe was the day before on April 10, 2019 with a 4-0 win highlighted by home runs from Niko Goodrum and John Hicks.

The Tribe will enter the series just a half-game behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central race. As for the Tigers, they sit at the bottom of the division, but are still only 6.5 back of the Twins in what is turning out to be the closest division race in the American League from top to bottom.

The Indians’ pitching has been just as stellar of late as they were to start the season, holding Pittsburgh to one run or less in each of the last two games. The offense has also stayed hot for the Indians, scoring six runs in each of the first two games and another two on Thursday to close the series.

The middle of the Cleveland batting order is starting to catch fire. Over the last week, Franmil Reyes is hitting .318, but the most intriguing part is his power. In the last six games, Reyes has three home runs and six RBI while also drawing four walks. Carlos Santana also seems to have returned to form, hitting a three-run home run in both Tuesday and Wednesday’s games against the Pirates.

As for Detroit, they have struggled to find a rhythm. Austin Romine is the only batter with an average north of .300, but being a catcher he isn’t an every day player. Across the rest of the stat sheet, JaCoby Jones is atop most of the categories, tied for the team lead in runs (13), home runs (5) and is second in RBIs (13).

Friday, Aug. 21, 7:10 p.m. EST

Probable Starters: Adam Plutko (1-1, 3.95 ERA) vs. Michael Fulmer (0-0, 7.56 ERA)

With his last start also coming against the Tigers, Adam Plutko will be in familiar territory to begin the weekend series in Cleveland.

On Sunday against Detroit, Plutko tossed just 2.2 innings as the starter, giving up three earned runs on six hits while logging just one strikeout. The Indians’ offense responded well though, scoring eight runs of relief to give Plutko a no decision for the outing.

The month of August as a whole has been a bit of a struggle for Plutko, being 0-1 in the month. He’s been on the mound for 7.2 innings in August and has allowed four runs on 10 hits. Hopefully, that tide can turn on Friday against the struggling Detroit offense.

As for the Tigers, they will send former AL Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer to the bump, who has had a sluggish start to 2020. Fulmer’s last outing was also against Cleveland and Plutko on Sunday when he, like Plutko, gave up three runs over 2.2 innings. The outing was Fulmer’s third of the season, all ending without a decision for him.

In the shortened season, Fulmer has yet to stay on the mound longer than three innings, pitching three against the White Sox back on August 10, which was his best outing of the year. If the Indians can do damage early on and force Detroit to tap into the bullpen repeatedly in game one, it could give them a big advantage for the rest of the series.

Sunday, Aug. 23, 1:10 p.m. EST

Probable Starters: Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 3.71 ERA) vs. Tarik Skubal 0-1, 18.00 ERA)

The series finale on Sunday will feature two very different pitchers on the bump. For Cleveland, it will be the veteran Carlos Carrasco while the Tigers look to Tarik Skubal for just his second career start.

We’ll start with the hometown Indians with Carrasco. The start will be the first outing for Carrasco against the Tigers in almost a year with his last appearance being back on September 17, 2019. The Indians won 7-2 that day with Carrasco tossing one inning of relief. However, in terms of starting on the mound, Carrasco hasn’t done that against Detroit since July 27, 2018.

Since Carrasco’s last start against the Tigers, Cleveland is 23-4 over the span, plus whatever happens in the first two games of the series on Friday and Saturday.

Now to the youthful side of the matchup in Skubal, he’ll look to bounce back after getting knocked around in his debut on Tuesday against the White Sox. He completed just two innings in the loss, surrendering four runs on seven hits and one walk with just a single strikeout.

Chicago went on to win that game 10-4 after Tim Anderson began the game, and Skubal’s career, with a lead-off home run.

This will mark what should be the first of many starts for Skubal against the Indians’ in his career and could be the beginning of a new chapter in the division rivalry that has been heavily lopsided of late.