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.

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.