PREVIEW: Indians look to bounce back against Twins on Saturday

CLEVELAND– The Cleveland Indians (36-32) are still searching for their third win of the season against the Minnesota Twins (30-36) on Saturday. They are just 2-5 against their Central Division foes this season.

Time: 4:10 p.m.

Starting Pitchers: CLE Carlos Carrasco (3.90, 8-4) vs. MIN Fernando Romero (3.92, 3-2)

TV:  SportsTime Ohio

Online: MLB.TV

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

1.  Which Carrasco will take the mound?

Carrasco has had two starts against Minnesota so far this season, both with opposite results. Back on April 18 he went seven scoreless innings in Cleveland’s 2-1 loss. Two weeks ago, Carrasco gave up a whopping six runs in just three and two-thirds innings.

Carrasco will need to be aggressive early, as the Twins offense will likely come into Saturday with some confidence after hanging up four runs on Tribe ace Corey Kluber Friday night.

2. Keeping Rosario at bay

For whatever reason, Eddie Rosario has feasted against Cleveland in 2018. Four of his 15 homers have come off of Tribe pitchers. Friday night, he hit one on Kluber’s fourth pitch of the game to give the Twins an early 1-0 lead.

On the season, he’s batting 12-for-30 against Cleveland with nine RBI.

3. Stringing together hits

Throughout their series on the road against Chicago, the Indians struggled to capitalize with men on base. On Friday, it was more of the same as they left seven men stranded and were just 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

In the the ninth inning of Friday’s game, however, it seemed like they took back some offensive momentum, scoring two late runs and getting runners moving around the bases in their 6-3 loss. But ultimately, the bats will have to come out aggressive from the get-go on Saturday.

The Twins have proven that even though they haven’t lived up to their own expectations so far this year, they are more than confident in taking on the Central-leading Indians.