Indians at Tigers
The Cleveland Indians are taking full advantage of their season series with Detroit as they look to finish off a three-game sweep of the major league-worst Tigers in the finale Thursday afternoon. Jason Kipnis launched two homers and Francisco Lindor hit the go-ahead blast in the eighth inning as the Indians earned a 4-2 victory Wednesday, improving to 14-1 against Detroit in 2019 while outscoring the Tigers 89-29 in 13 straight wins.
Kipnis boasts three homers in the series and Lindor is riding a 10-game hitting streak (13-for-43) for Cleveland, which has won four of its last five contests to re-establish a spot at the top of the American League wild-card standings. Right-hander Mike Clevinger, who has not allowed a run in three starts over 17 innings with 32 strikeouts during day games this year, was moved up a day to get the start in the finale for the Indians and the Tigers counter with lefty Daniel Norris. Detroit has lost four in a row and nine of 11 contests after dropping to 17-45 at home this season with Wednesday’s defeat, giving up three homers in each of the first two games of the series. Dawel Lugo provided one of the runs for the Tigers with a solo homer to extend his hitting streak to five contests (8-for-18) and leadoff batter Victor Reyes led the way with a pair of hits, improving to 14-for-44 with four RBIs over his last 10 outings.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, STO (Cleveland), FS Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Mike Clevinger (9-2, 3.00 ERA) vs. Tigers LH Daniel Norris (3-10, 4.70)
Clevinger is unbeaten in his last 10 starts and recorded the eighth victory in that stretch Saturday when he held Kansas City to one run on four hits over 5 2/3 innings. The 28-year-old Florida native owns a 2.11 ERA during his unbeaten string with 82 strikeouts and 16 walks across 59 2/3 frames. Clevinger, who is 5-2 with a 4.23 ERA on the road this year as opposed to 4-0 with a 1.82 mark at home, struck out 12 and limited the Tigers to one run over six innings in a 7-2 win on July 17.
The Tigers are limiting the workload for Norris the rest of the season as he builds on a career-high 126 1/3 innings - already 24 2/3 more than his previous best in 2017. The 26-year-old Tennessee native has managed one win over his last 18 appearance, but gave up just three hits combined while pitching three scoreless innings his last two trips to the mound. Oscar Mercado is 3-for-7 with a homer versus Norris, who yielded 11 runs over 12 2/3 innings through his first two starts against Cleveland in 2019.
WALK-OFFS
1. Detroit DH Miguel Cabrera, who has 46 homers and 153 RBIs in 201 career games against the Indians, sat out Wednesday due to left biceps tightness.
2. Cleveland OF-DH Franmil Reyes is 7-for-18 with four homers and 10 RBIs during a five-game hitting streak.
3. Tigers SS Willi Castro registered his first major league RBI with a sacrifice fly to tie Wednesday’s game in the sixth inning.