Indians at Royals
Although their bats have come alive since arriving in Kansas City, the Cleveland Indians might be willing to trade a few hits for a well-pitched game from Ubaldo Jimenez as they go for a three-game sweep of the Royals on Sunday. The Indians were forced to use eight pitchers in Saturday's 11-9 slugfest that featured the benches emptying twice, three ejections on Cleveland's side and a game-winning two-run double in the 10th inning by Shin-Soo Choo after the Indians blew a seven run lead.
Kansas City is equally desperate for a solid effort from its starting pitcher after falling behind 7-0 in the first inning of Friday’s opener and trailing 5-0 and 9-2 in Saturday’s contest. The Royals showed their mettle in fighting back from the huge deficits, getting a pair of doubles from Mike Moustakas and two hits and two RBIs from Billy Butler before Yuniesky Betancourt tied it at 9-9 with a solo homer. Butler had his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
TV: 2:10 p.m. ET, STO (Cleveland), FSKC (Kansas City)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Ubaldo Jimenez (0-0, ERA 2.57) vs. Royals RH Luis Mendoza (0-1, ERA 1.59)
Jimenez returns from a five-game suspension to make his second start of the season. He rebounded from a rocky spring and carried a no-hitter through six innings in his season debut before taking a no-decision in a loss to Toronto. Jimenez had his best outing against the Royals last year, allowing only one run and striking out a season-high 10.
Mendoza was a hard-luck loser in his first start, allowing one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 1-0 loss at Oakland. He turned in a pair of impressive performances to win his last two starts and 2011 and carried it over to this year, leading the majors with a 0.47 ERA in spring training.
WALK-OFFS:
1. Cleveland has won 16 of the last 22 meetings with Kansas City.
2. The Royals did get some quality relief in Saturday’s loss, with four pitchers each throwing a hitless inning.
3. The Indians were last in the majors in batting prior to the series, but have collected 25 hits in two games.