SteemSports Presenter:
SteemSports Editor:
There are several great series getting fired up around major league baseball today. The Yankees and Red Sox start a big 3-game set in the AL East with the division and best record in baseball up for grabs between the two. The San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies continue their 4-game series from Philly, and the Mariners and Blue Jays start a 3-game set from Toronto. The Angels and Rockies also start an inter-league set today from Coors Field. There's plenty of great action and already important early-season match-ups galore, but today we head to Miller Park in Milwaukee for one of three inter-league series that are getting started up today.
Cleveland heads to Milwaukee for a quick 2-game inter-league series stop. The Indians are still in first place in the weak AL Central, as they've dropped all the way back to 17-17. They're just 5-10 in their past 15 games overall, and need to find a way to come up with more consistent hitting to help support the pitching staff. Cleveland is 7th in the AL in runs scored, and just 12th in batting average, but do find themselves tied for 2nd in the league in home runs. The pitching has remained solid as the Indians rank fifth in the AL in team-ERA at 4.12, and sixth in strikeouts.
A big part of that pitching success can be attributed to ace Corey Kluber, who's already 5-1 on the season with just a 2.41 ERA. His control has been impeccable already, as he's issued only 9 walks compared to 53 strikeouts. He has allowed 3 earned runs in each of his last 3 starts, but went deep in all of those outings as well (7 innings, 8 2/3 innings, and 7 innings). He only allowed a total of 5 earned runs over his first 4 starts of the season. In all, the Indians have went 5-2 in games started by Kluber, and they will be looking to get back on track with another W today after getting swept by the Yankees over the weekend.
The Brewers will counter with Wade Miley. The left-hander made his first appearance of the season last week against Cincinnati and logged 6 solid innings of work, giving up just 3 hits and 1 run to go along with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts to get the win. The Brew Crew will be hoping that he's once again up to the task, and can match Kluber. The Brewers struggled mightily from the plate on Sunday, when they were trounced 9-0 by the Pirates and only mustered 2 hits in the game.
Milwaukee is second to last in the NL in runs scored, 9th in batting average, and 6th in home runs. They have been extremely inconsistent from the plate to start the season, as they've been shutout 7 times already. Luckily for the Brew Crew, the pitching staff has been picking up slack as they rank third in the NL in both ERA and saves. Left-hander Josh Hader has been terrific for the Crew out of the bullpen, as he's made 12 appearances already on the season, and has managed to go 1-0 with 4 saves in those trips out of the bullpen. He's logged an insane 43 strikeouts in just 20 innings pitched and had a streak of 14-consecutive outs by strikeout snapped on Saturday. He's been a big part of the Brewers' early season success.
The Indians are led by Jose Ramirez, who's hitting .285 with 9 HRs and 21 RBIs, and he also leads the team with a .376 on-base %. Shortstop Francisco Lindor is right behind at .283 with 8 HRs and 20 RBIs. They also have 5 regular players all hitting below .250, so the Indians rely heavily on Ramirez and Lindor to jump-start their offense. The Brewers meanwhile, aren't getting much consistent production from anywhere in the lineup as Ryan Braun leads the way with 5 HRs and 19 RBIs, but is hitting just .243 to start the year. Eric Thames leads the team in home runs with 7, but he's hitting just .250. Domingo Santana leads the team in hitting at just .271, but both Christian Yelich and Jesus Aguilar are hitting better, but have failed to log enough at-bats to register. Yelich had an early season bout on the DL and Aguilar has made the most of his 60 at-bats thus far, hitting .350 with 2 HRs and 10 RBIs. Manager Craig Counsell would be wise to continue to work Aguilar into the mix as he's the only Brewer that's provided much spark from the plate as of late. It should be a great 2-game set from Milwaukee between a pair of former AL Central foes.
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