At roughly the same time last night when many Cleveland sports fans were anguished by the Cavaliers losing in overtime, the Indians won their game versus the Kansas City Royals in what you might call “undertime,” as rain and the prospect of more rain in Missouri caused the game to end in seven innings. It was as good a way as any to end a successful seven-game road trip, one in which the Indians went 5-2 and drew within one game of the .500 mark. It was especially sweet for them to get a series win against the Royals, who have been playing with a lot of swagger ever since their 2014 postseason run.
Tonight the Indians are back home in Cleveland for a six-game home stand: three games against the Orioles, followed by a day off and three games against the Seattle Mariners. The Orioles have a dismal 9-17 record in away games this season, and their starting pitcher tonight, Chris Tillman, has gone 0-6 in his last seven starts, with a 6.10 ERA over that span. Tillman walks a lot of batters, nearly 5 per game in 2015, so if the Indians hitters, who lead the majors in walks, can continue to exercise some discipline at the plate, it could be another unhappy outing for Tillman.
Catching Tillman tonight will be Matt Wieters, appearing in his first Orioles game since May 10, 2014. Wieters, a three-time All-Star, had Tommy John surgery last year. He has been recuperating from the surgery but recently appeared in five minor league games.
Fifth starter Shaun Marcum (2-0, 5.49) will take the mound for the Tribe tonight. Marcum also gives up his share of bases on balls, and also has the nasty habit of allowing more home runs than one would like him to: six homers in 19 2/3 innings in 2015. In his four starts in 2015, he has allowed one homer twice and two homers twice. Let’s hope he starts a new trend this evening and finds a way to keep the Orioles hitters from going yard against him.
Tonight’s starting lineups:
| Orioles | Indians | ||
|
3B
|
Manny Machado |
2B
|
Jason Kipnis |
|
RF
|
Travis Snider |
1B
|
Carlos Santana |
|
CF
|
Adam Jones |
DH
|
Michael Brantley |
|
1B
|
Chris Davis |
RF
|
Brandon Moss |
|
C
|
Matt Wieters |
LF
|
David Murphy |
|
DH
|
Jimmy Paredes |
3B
|
Lonnie Chisenhall |
|
2B
|
Ryan Flaherty |
C
|
Yan Gomes |
|
SS
|
J.J. Hardy |
CF
|
Michael Bourn |
|
LF
|
David Lough |
SS
|
Mike Aviles |
|
SP
|
Chris Tillman |
SP
|
Shaun Marcum |
Feel free to comment below!
i have actually been really like the recent lineup construction, particularly now that bourn has been banished to the bottom 1/3 where he belongs. i like the idea of him at 8 and aviles behind him at 9 to drive him in – its like an extrat top of the lineup, but without the pressure that bourn is clearly unable to handle.
chisenhall is deserving of all the scorn we can give him, though. i hope we shore up 3rd next year. he’s not the answer.