Indians at Angels
The Los Angeles Angels have been one of the most disappointing teams in
baseball during the first 60 games of the season and are in a deep funk as
they open a three-game series against the visiting Cleveland Indians on
Friday. Los Angeles was outscored 29-14 while suffering a four-game
sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees and has lost six of its last
eight games to fall a season-worst eight games under .500.
The Angels are 11 games behind the first-place Texas Rangers in the American League West and possess the third-worst record in the AL. "We're just, right now, not winning enough situations on the field," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said after Thursday's 6-3 loss to the Yankees. "And there's some tangible reasons why and there's some things that we hope we can do better and that's what we're going to focus on." Cleveland is coming off a four-game split at Seattle to open a 10-game excursion and leads the AL Central by three games over Kansas City and Detroit. Indians center fielder Tyler Naquin hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning of Thursday's 5-3 win over the Mariners and all four of his homers have come in June.
TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland), FSN West (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Corey Kluber (5-6, 3.84 ERA) vs. Angels LH Hector Santiago (3-3, 5.07)
Kluber has won three of his past four starts and pitched six innings of two-hit shutout ball while beating Kansas City in his last turn. He has limited opposing batters to a .197 batting average against in six road outings and stands 3-2 with a 3.18 ERA. Kluber is 0-2 with a 5.51 ERA in three career starts against the Angels and has shut down both Albert Pujols (0-for-6) and Mike Trout (1-for-7).
Santiago is winless in his past four starts and has pitched four or fewer innings in three of them. He struggled through four innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his last outing and gave up three runs, four hits and four walks. Santiago is 2-1 with a 4.89 ERA in 11 career appearances (six starts) against Cleveland and has fared well against Rajai Davis (2-for-13) and Mike Napoli (2-for-12).
WALK-OFFS
1. Indians C Yan Gomes (testicular contusion) has missed the past two games and is doubtful for the series opener.
2. Pujols has just one homer over the last 11 games.
3. Cleveland selected prep OF/1B Will Benson (Atlanta) with the 14th overall pick of Thursday's draft, while Los Angeles chose college C Matt Thaiss (Virginia) with the 16th pick.