Having completed a home stand which saw them win four games, lose four games, and have one game postponed due to rain, the Indians now embark on a weird little five-game road trip. Weird, because they play three games against the Kansas City Royals, take a day off, play two games against the Colorado Rockies, then take another day off before returning to Cleveland. The Tribe will surely be thinking of those two days off later in the month, when they play 22 games in 20 consecutive days.
The home stand ended well for the Indians, as they took three out of four from the Oakland A’s, and they got solid pitching performances from their starters in each of the past five games. Except for last Wednesday’s game, which they lost 3-1, the offense has looked good lately as well, having scored 33 runs in the last five games. It would be nice to take at least two games out of three this weekend to remind the Royals who’s boss of the AL Central.
Tonight Josh Tomlin takes the mound in Kauffman Stadium for the Indians. In his last start, five days ago, against the Royals, Tomlin pitched a complete game, giving up only one run and six hits while walking absolutely no one. It was by far his best outing of the season.
Here are tonight’s starting lineups:
| Indians | Royals | ||
|
2B
|
Jason Kipnis |
SS
|
Alcides Escobar |
|
SS
|
Francisco Lindor |
3B
|
Mike Moustakas |
|
LF
|
Michael Brantley |
CF
|
Lorenzo Cain |
|
1B
|
Carlos Santana |
1B
|
Eric Hosmer |
|
DH
|
Edwin Encarnacion |
C
|
Salvador Perez |
|
3B
|
Jose Ramirez | RF | Jorge Bonifacio |
|
C
|
Yan Gomes |
DH
|
Brandon Moss |
|
CF
|
Austin Jackson |
2B
|
Whit Merrifield |
|
RF
|
Daniel Robertson |
LF
|
Alex Gordon |
|
SP
|
Josh Tomlin |
SP
|
Jason Vargas |