Indians at Royals
The Cleveland Indians were at their lowest point after becoming the first team to be shut out in consecutive games by at least 13 runs on Friday and Saturday and are still looking for more out of their offense despite avoiding a sweep with a 2-0 win at Baltimore on Sunday. The Indians will try to break out the bats when they visit the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday for the opener of a three-game series.
Shane Bieber saved a struggling Cleveland staff with 11 strikeouts in eight innings on Sunday and All-Star Carlos Santana pushed across the two runs as the Indians pulled back within eight games of the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central. "Baseball's a crazy game," Bieber told reporters. "Momentum can stop just like that, so just trying to go out there and collect outs and get through as many innings as I can. That's what I was trying to do." The Royals, who dropped two of three at Cleveland last week, had a chance to earn a split of a four-game series at Toronto on Monday but was crushed 11-4 to fall to 13-31 on the road. The Indians will look for another solid outing out of Trevor Bauer on Tuesday while the Royals counter with fellow right-hander Jakob Junis.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, STO (Cleveland), FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Trevor Bauer (6-6, 3.55 ERA) vs. Royals RH Jakob Junis (4-7, 5.23)
Bauer is making his second straight start against the Royals after yielding one run and three hits over 6 2/3 innings last Wednesday while striking out 12 in a win. The 28-year-old threw a season-high 127 pitches in that outing and averages a major league-high 112.1 pitches per start. Bauer is 3-1 with a 1.87 ERA in eight career games - seven starts - at Kansas City.
Junis went up against Bauer last Wednesday and came away with the loss after yielding four runs on nine hits and one walk over six innings. The 26-year-old allowed two earned runs in each of his previous three outings but was held out of the decision in all of them and is winless in five straight turns. Junis started at home against Cleveland on April 14 and was knocked around for five runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Indians SS Francisco Lindor and LHP Brad Hand were named as AL All-Star reserves on Sunday.
2. Royals UTL Whit Merrifield was named to his first AL All-Star team.
3. Cleveland LF-1B Jake Bauers (foot) left Sunday's game and is day-to-day.