Tigers at Indians
While offense has been behind the recent surge by the Cleveland Indians, a surprising pitching performance has them in position to pull off their second straight three-game sweep of the visiting Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon. Aaron Civale tossed six scoreless innings in his major league debut as Cleveland made it five consecutive wins over Detroit in the last nine days.
Jose Ramirez has been dismal at the plate for much of the season, but he has hit safely in eight of nine games and collected eight RBIs in that span with a run-scoring triple in Saturday's 2-0 victory. Closer Brad Hand has earned both saves in the series to improve to 22-for-22 on the season but he has been shaky, allowing a pair of hits in each game after yielding only two in his previous nine appearances. While the Indians moved a season-high six games over .500, Detroit has dropped three in a row and seven of eight to dip a season-worst 20 games below the break-even mark. Niko Goodrum collected two hits in Saturday's loss and is 6-for-16 with two doubles in the past four games against Cleveland.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, STO (Cleveland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers LH Daniel Norris (2-5, 4.40 ERA) vs. Indians RH Zach Plesac (2-2, 2.56)
Norris remains in search of his first victory since May 12, although he deserved a better fate last time out after registering a quality start with two runs allowed over six innings in a no-decision at Pittsburgh. The 26-year-old also had a no-decision with five innings of two-run ball in his previous turn at Kansas City, which came on the heels of a three-start losing streak. Ramirez is 4-for-13 versus Norris, who owns a 3-1 record and 3.54 ERA in his career against the Indians.
Plesac is coming off a stellar outing, pitching seven innings for the third time in five starts and permitting one run on two hits to beat Texas. The lone mistake for the 24-year-old rookie, the nephew of former major league reliever Dan Plesac, was allowing a solo homer - his sixth blast given up over the past four outings. Plesac has surrendered two runs or fewer in four of his five turns and allowed only 21 hits across 31 2/3 innings overall while holding batters to a .191 average.
WALK-OFFS
1. Indians OF Oscar Mercado has multiple hits in six of his last nine games.
2. The Tigers called up RHP Jose Cisnero from Triple-A Toledo and designated RHP Carlos Torres for assignment.
3. Cleveland has designated OF Leonys Martin for assignment.