PREVIEW: Indians look for a bounce back win against Royals

CLEVELAND– The Cleveland Indians (18-19) are trying to bounce back after a tough 10-9 loss Fridasy night against the Kansas City Royals (13-25).

Time: 4:10 p.m.

Starting Pitchers: CLE Mike Clevinger (2-0, 2.76) vs. KC Jakob Junis (4-2, 3.18)

TV:  SportsTime Ohio

Online: MLB.TV

Radio: WTAM 1100 AM, WMMS 100.7 FM, Indians Radio Network

1. Last night’s recap

Last night the Indians let a huge lead slip away and ultimately fell to Kansas City, 10-9.

They went up 9-4 on Michael Brantley’s second grand slam of the season. The Royals clawed their way back in the fifth and sixth innings getting to within one run on a series of RBI base hits.

The go-ahead run for the Royals came in the seventh inning, as Salvador Perez hit a two-run bomb off Andrew Miller in Miller’s first appearance since being activated off the DL.

Read three takeaways from the disappointing loss here.

2. Pitching matchup

Clevinger is coming off of a solid outing with the New York Yankees in which he went seven and one-third innings and struck out 10. He ultimately took a no-decision.

Junis last pitched on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers. He went seven innings and gave up eight hits and two runs while fanning a career-high eight batters.

3. “We’re better than this.”

Trevor Bauer said the above quote after last night’s loss (read more here from Jordan Bastian), and it’s impossible to disagree with him.

The bats are hopefully here to stay, but the bullpen still has left plenty to be desired. It’s something the pitching staff recognizes:

“Ultimately, I think just as a team we’re not really playing winning baseball right now,” Bauer said. “We’re not making winning pitches. We’re not making winning defensive plays. The offense came through big tonight and we still weren’t able to win, because we beat ourselves in two other aspects of the game.

“It takes a lot of attention to detail and a very high focus and intensity to win at this level no matter who you’re playing. And we’re not bringing that on each and every night right now.”