About an hour from now, our hometown team will attempt to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Rays. The Rays have won both of the first two games of the series by a score of 4-1, so the pitching really can’t be blamed. The offense simply needs to perform better — gee, it feels like we’re saying that a lot recently, huh?
Lineups:
RAYS
CF Kevin Kiermaier
LF Joey Butler
3B Evan Longoria
DH David DeJesus
2B Logan Forsythe
RF Steven Souza Jr.
SS Asdrubal Cabrera
1B Jake Elmore
C Curt Casali
INDIANS
2B Jason Kipnis
SS Francisco Lindor
LF Michael Brantley
DH David Murphy
1B Carlos Santana
RF Brandon Moss
3B Mike Aviles
CF Michael Bourn
C Roberto Perez
Pitching for the Indians will be Cody Anderson, who is making his first professional big league start. In all the hubbub about Lindor over the past couple years, we seem to have forgotten about the other names on the organizational radar, but Anderson is a player I can certainly get behind. Never a top top prospect due to his size and pedigree, Cody has outperformed expectations at every level. He has the chance now to stake a long-term claim to a spot in the big league rotation, and I wish him the best.
The Rays will counter with Alex Colome, a right hander who has generally floundered in his first season with extended exposure to the big leagues. Definitely the kind of pitcher you want to see on the mount when you’re trying to avoid a sweep.
1st Walkoff Win of the season eep. Good win but eep.