Baseball is back, after the Indians’ final off day of the regular season! Tonight, Josh Tomlin squares off against Edinson Volquez as the Indians attempt to inch closer to an AL Central title. They’re currently 7 games ahead of the Detroit Tigers with 12 games left to play, while the Royals are 9.5 games back.
Last week, I ended up writing about Tomlin’s strong outing against the White Sox. I expressed concern about the amount of innings he’s thrown post-All Star break, and suggested that perhaps his recent rest was beneficial to him. I also said that I hoped the Indians could rest him more than use him down the stretch, in order to keep him fresh for a potential playoff appearance. Well, you can’t always get what you want. The injury to Carlos Carrasco (and Danny Salazar) means that the Indians pretty much have to use Tomlin at this point. They just have to hope that he can build on his strong outing from last week.
Edinson Volquez has really struggled this season, after he spent much of 2015 as the Royals’ top pitcher. The Indians haven’t faced him since July 18, when he allowed just 2 ER on 4 hits in 7 IP. Volquez pitched a shutout against the Indians back on June 13 (in 7 IP) and surrendered 5 ER back on June 3. He’s been much worse than that in his last 4 or 5 starts, so hopefully (for the Indians’ sake) that trend continues.
Lineups:
Indians | Royals | ||
DH
|
Carlos Santana |
CF
|
Jarrod Dyson |
2B
|
Jason Kipnis |
2B
|
Whit Merrifield |
SS
|
Francisco Lindor |
1B
|
Eric Hosmer |
1B
|
Mike Napoli |
DH
|
Kendrys Morales |
3B
|
Jose Ramirez |
C
|
Salvador Perez |
RF
|
Lonnie Chisenhall |
LF
|
Alex Gordon |
LF
|
Abraham Almonte |
RF
|
Paulo Orlando |
CF
|
Tyler Naquin |
SS
|
Alcides Escobar |
C
|
Roberto Perez |
3B
|
Cheslor Cuthbert |
SP
|
Josh Tomlin |
SP
|
Edinson Volquez |