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

Three keys to victory for the Cleveland Indians in Chicago

The Cleveland Indians limp into action against the White Sox following a disappointing 3-5 homestand which ended with a 10-2 shellacking at the hands of the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.

While the offense has continued to struggle with inconsistency, the rotation suffered its first casualty when Logan Allen was optioned to Columbus following a trio of starts where he threw just 5.2 innings, total, allowing 11 runs and a whopping six dingers over the three-game stretch.

The Tribe was off on Thursday; a break that was much-needed after five relievers labored to complete nine innings against the Twins due to Allen’s short outing, and the Twins penchant for smacking home runs off Tribe pitchers.

Now the Cleveland Indians hit the road, well-rested, and looking to get the season back on track. The circumstances are favorable for the Tribe as they return to the top of the rotation. Shane Bieber faces off against Dallas Keuchel in the series opener, tonight at 8:10 ET. Bieber continues his historic streak, and will have the opportunity to overthrow Randy Johnson’s all-time record for consecutive starts with eight, or more, strikeouts in a game (17).

As for Saturday and Sunday, the Indians are yet to formally announce who will take the hill in those two contests. They may decide to skip Triston McKenzie – who missed his scheduled start due to the off day – and continue with the normal sequence, behind Bieber, of Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale to battle against Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito, respectively.

The Indians come into Chicago having lost six of their last ten games, while the White Sox are heading in the opposite direction. They are 8-2 in their last ten games and, now, just a game and a half back of the division lead. They have hit their stride with a combination of great starting pitching, excellent offense, and protecting home field. The White Sox currently have the best home record (8-4) in the AL and have scored a league-leading 124 runs. The Indians will need to be at the top of their game to escape with a series win. Here are three keys to holding off José Abreu and co.

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.