The Indians are back at Progressive Field tonight to start the first of six straight against two AL Central opponents that they will be fighting with the rest of the season.
Up first is the Detroit Tigers, a team that the Indians swept just over a week ago at Comerica Park in Detroit. The Tigers enter action tonight at 14-10, three games back of the White Sox in the AL Central, and two spots ahead of the Indians in the division.
Here’s a few things to look for over the first three games of the homestand, as the Tigers are up first followed by a weekend series against the World Series champion Kansas City Royals.
1. Tigers Hitters Have Started to Find Their Stride
When the Indians swept Detroit just over a week ago, their big bats in the lineup were struggling to say the least. Then after the 6-3 loss to the Tribe on Sunday to wrap up the series, manager Brad Ausmus made a lineup change, moving J.D. Martinez to the two-hole and moving Justin Upton down.
It’s paid off for the Tigers. Since the move, Upton is hitting .310 and .714 OPS, with one home run and five RBIs. Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera are also getting hot, and the Indians pitchers have to find a way to cool down their hot bats at Progressive Field, a place they usually hit well.
2. Justin Verlander Has also Started to Turn the Corner
Maybe it was the announcement today that he got officially engaged to supermodel Kate Upton, or maybe he just needed to get it out of his system, but Justin Verlander has started to look like his old self again.
The Indians got to him for two homers in the win over Detroit a week ago Friday, but since then Verlander looked much better in a 9-4 win over the Oakland A’s.
Lifetime he’s 15-16 against the Indians, and while the Tribe has had some success against him, he’s been tough at times at Progressive Field.
3. The One-Run Blues
How bad was losing five of six to the Twins and Phillies after the sweep of the Tigers? Very.
Consider that every loss of the five the Indians had was by one-run, and you can see this team is in every game, they are just making little mistakes that have set them back, like the balk by Danny Salazar on Sunday that led to the Phillies second run in an eventual 2-1 loss.
The Indians have had 11 games this season decided by one-run, most in the Majors, and it shows that winning and losing the baseball again comes down to the little things, like hitting with runners in scoring position or getting down a bunt.
Here’s hoping they break the one-run losing streak starting tonight.
4. Central Business
A big part of the Tribe downfall in 2015 was the fact they were 32-43 (.427) against A.L. Central, finishing below .500 against all 4 rivals.
In their last playoff season, the team was 44-32 against the Central, a much better mark. This year they have started up and down against the Central, going 1-1 against the White Sox, 3-0 against the Tigers, and 1-2 against the Twins.
If this team is going to compete in the ultra tough AL Central, they are going to have to play well in their own division. The sweep of Detroit was a very good sign, but will mean little if they have a bad homestand against the Tigers and Royals over the next six days.
5. Time for the Key Offensive Players to Start Hitting
While Joe Ramirez, Francisco Lindor and Tyler Naquin have all come of the gates hitting, the big bats in the Indians lineup that are being counted on have gotten off to slow starts.
Mike Napoli (.205 4 HR 11 RBI), Lonnie Chisenhall (.200 0 HR 1 RBI), Carlos Santana (.244 4 HR 12 RBI) and Juan Uribe (.208, 1 HR 4 RBI) all are going to have to start swinging the bats better if the Indians are going to get this offense turned around.
One-run losses can be erased rather quickly if even 1-2 of these mentioned players can get the offense turned around.
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