Tigers at Indians
Trevor Bauer looks to provide another strong performance from a starting pitcher when the Cleveland Indians attempt to complete a four-game home sweep of the Central Division-rival Detroit Tigers on Thursday. Cleveland starters have allowed seven runs over 50 1/3 innings since April 4 after Carlos Carrasco recorded a complete game in Wednesday’s 5-1 victory to extend the team’s winning streak to four games.
Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley each recorded two hits while Yonder Alonso drove in a pair of runs in the triumph for Cleveland, which registered its highest run total since April 2 and has outscored the Tigers 9-2 in the series. Bauer hopes for a third solid start to open the season when he opposes Michael Fulmer, who has been even better in his first two turns despite suffering a loss. Detroit, which is 10-30 against the Indians since the start of 2016, has scored fewer than two runs in four straight contests and six of its 11 games this season. Miguel Cabrera, Nicholas Castellanos and Victor Martinez - the dangerous middle of the order for the Tigers - are a combined 3-for-40 over the last four games.
TV: 6:10 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Michael Fulmer (1-1, 0.68 ERA) vs. Indians RH Trevor Bauer (0-1, 2.08)
Fulmer suffered a tough-luck loss in his season debut but came back to record the win last time out as he limited the Chicago White Sox to six hits over 5 1/3 scoreless innings on Saturday. The 25-year-old native of Oklahoma City gave up just one run and four hits over eight frames while throwing just 90 pitches on April 1 but lost 1-0 against Pittsburgh. Tyler Naquin is 4-for-6 and Brantley is 3-for-6 against Fulmer, who is 2-2 with a 6.04 ERA in five career starts versus the Indians.
Bauer has pitched well in his first two starts of the season but suffered the loss on Saturday, when he allowed one run and three hits over eight innings in a 1-0 setback against Kansas City. The 27-year-old UCLA product kept his team in the game during his 2018 debut at Seattle, yielding two runs and five hits over five frames of a no-decision. Jose Iglesias (5-for-9) and Cabrera (7-for-22, homer) have caused trouble for Bauer, who went 0-2 while allowing 13 runs over nine innings against Detroit last year.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cabrera is one RBI behind Chipper Jones (1,623) and trails Dave Winfield (465) by two homers for 34th place on the all-time list in both categories.
2. Cleveland 3B Jose Ramirez is 4-for-8 with a solo homer in the series after managing just two hits in his first 33 at-bats of 2018.
3. Detroit CF Leonys Martin fell a triple shy of the cycle on Wednesday as he posted his fourth multi-hit performance in his last eight games.