Indians, Rays kick off series Friday
The Cleveland Indians host the Tampa Bay Rays to begin a three-game set at Progressive Field on Friday night. The Indians are coming off a series win against the Minnesota Twins, taking two of three to improve to 40-55, though they're still 12.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox. The Rays took two of three from the Baltimore Orioles and sit two and a half games behind the AL East leaders, the New York Yankees, with a record of 57-37.
Pitchers duel imminent
Tampa Bay is sending Jeff Niemann to the mound Friday night after he pitched a bullpen session Thursday without any pain. Niemann is 8-2 on the season with a 2.92 ERA, which ranks seventh in the American League. Two starts ago he left early with a stiff back, but his last outing against the Yankees resulted in a win, going six and a third innings with four runs on six hits, six strikeouts and four balls. Batters are hitting just .221 against the 27-year-old righty.
Fausto Carmona will pitch for the Twins, who has pitched to a decision in all but three of his 19 starts this season. His 9-7 record comes with two complete games andhe is 5-5 in his last 10 starts. His ERA is 3.65 and is coming off a solid outing against the Detroit Tigers where he went seven innings and allowed just three runs on six hits with three strikeouts and six walks. The walks have been his only issue of late, giving up 16 walks in his last four starts but hasn't allowed his opponents to take advantage of the extra base runners. Batters have only hit .248 against him all season.
Carl Crawford may remain out
Crawford missed Wednesday's game and could miss Friday's as well after a cringe-worthy injury in the first inning of Tuesday night's game. Crawford was hit in the groin on a pick off attempt, and wasn't wearing a protective cup. Test results showed no damage, and Crawford claimed the injury would not change his mind about protection, which he believes is too restrictive. His official injury is a testicular contusion.
Crawford is an important part of the offence, hitting .317 with 11 home runs and 51 RBI and ranks second in the AL with 33 stolen bases and first with 71 runs. Both Matt Joyce and Gabe Kapler have filled in for Crawford.
Tampa Bay sluggish, Cleveland hot after break
The Rays have started their second half slowly, going 3-3 with no consecutive wins. They lost two of three to the Yankees in their first series, with Niemann picking up the sole win in the series. Cleveland is 6-1 after the break including a sweep of the Detroit Tigers, their first loss coming in Wednesday's loss to the Twins. They've averaged five runs a game in that span, despite their hottest hitter, Shin-Soo Choo, being sent to the disabled list on July 4. They've been scoring by committee, with everyone getting an RBI here and an extra-base hit there. Jason Donald has stepped up, with six hits on 23 at bats and six RBI in six games played. Trevor Crowe has nine hits in 26 at bats with four RBI in seven games.
Tampa Bay hasn't been as lucky to get help up and down their lineup, and their big bats have not been helping as much as the Rays need them to. Third baseman Evan Longoria has 9 hits on 26 at bats with just four RBI since the break. First baseman Carlos Pena has six RBI over the six-game stretch, but he's just over the Mendoza line with a .209 average for the season. Even Crawford saw his numbers dip after going just 5 for 20 before his injury. Jason Barlett has stepped up with eight hits on 25 at bats, but only has two RBI to show for it.
The Rays will be looking to get their bats going against the Indians to win this series.
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