Cleveland Indians: Three keys to victory against the Chicago White Sox

Three quality starts

The 2021 Cleveland Indians were always only going to go as far as their rotation took them. Early in the season it has already experienced a period of shakiness. The backend of starting five already has a vacancy following Logan Allen’s demotion. His poor performances were putting the relievers, who had to bail him out, under immense strain, and giving the hitters an early mountain to climb.

So the Tribe have been leaning heavily on their terrific trio at the front of the rotation. Bieber, Plesac and Civale have been masterful since making their debuts in the bigs. Bieber and Civale have picked up where they left off in 2020 as they both sport sub-three ERAs and tallied six wins from their ten collective starts. But Plesac has suffered a couple of bumps in the road; allowing six runs in back-to-back starts before righting the ship in has last appearance against Minnesota where he tossed 7 2/3 innings and gave up three runs.

Unfortunately, those two rough outings came against these same Chicago White Sox. Plesac will need a better approach when he, likely, faces them a third time this weekend. Civale has already shown he can weather the offensive power of the Chicago lineup when he threw a quality start against them the last time the Indians visited Guaranteed Rate Field. Bieber’s best showing this season came during the same series where he hurled nine innings and struck out 11.

If both Bieber and Civale can replicate their earlier performances against the Sox, and Plesac can find a way to put Chicago’s sluggers away, consistently, then the Indians will be on track for victory.

More bodies on the bases

It’s no secret that the Cleveland Indians offense is its Achilles heel. The lineup has been frustrating, and downright unwatchable, at times. But the hitting has found some momentum over the past four games. They scored 19 runs in the three games, before Wednesday’s 10-2 drubbing versus the Twins as a team they hit .270 as a team, launched six home runs and slugged 12 extra-base hits.

José Ramírez and Franmil Reyes had been doing a lot of the heavy lifting for most of the season, while Jordan Luplow has made the most of his playing time by smacking six home runs to tie the team lead with Reyes and Ramírez in 30 fewer at bats. Other members of the Indians lineup have begun to lift themselves out of their early funks. Josh Naylor had a three-hit day streak in the Twins series and has pushed his batting average up to .250, which has helped distract fans from his woeful ineptitude as a fielder. Free swinger, Eddie Rosario, has also started to find some consistency with the bat.

However, the Indians are still near the bottom in almost every meaningful offensive category. The most worrying is their .284OBP clip; good for third worst in baseball. The White Sox, by contrast, lead the league in OBP. Few men on the bases means few opportunities to score runs. And when the team is also third-worst in batting average (.209), it comes as no surprise that the majority of the runs that the Tribe does score come via the long ball.

Improving the run-scoring starts with getting runners on base, and ending the over-reliance on hitting home runs to get players across home plate. The Indians need to be more patient at the plate, work counts, take walks and swing at their pitch.

Better situational hitting

This final key to the series, for the Indians, is linked to the previous one. After all, having more men on base is important, but it doesn’t matter much if you can’t get a hit, or a rally going, consistently to drive them in.

The Indians are hitting .207 with runners in scoring position, which is good for (you guessed it) third-worst in baseball. You cannot even rely on the Indians to make ‘good’ outs with a somewhat deep fly ball, as they also sit near the bottom in sac flies.

While fans do not expect any miracles from the offense, as a whole, the Tribe batters would relieve a lot of the pressure they are under if they can capitalize better on the few opportunities they create to drive home runs. After all, the Indians are not the Atlanta Braves or LA Dodgers; they do not have talented hitters, up and down the lineup, who can scorch the baseball, put together five-run rallies, and rack up double-digit hits in games on a frequent basis.

The Tribe hitters, and their coaching staff, can help themselves by embracing small ball tactics, and adopting a better approach at the dish with runners on. Hitting coach, Ty van Burkleo, has caught a lot of criticism for the Indians’ paltry offensive output the past two seasons. He needs work better with the younger hitters and coach in a better approach to situational hitting if the Indians are to make improvements in scoring more runs and not wasting great pitching efforts.

The Indians are going up against one of the best offenses in baseball, and while they have the pitching to put a lid on that lineup, Chicago is also blessed with strong starting pitchers. So the Indians will need to find a way to do better with the bats and jump on every opportunity to throw up a crooked number.