Indians at Tigers
The Cleveland Indians will take their power bats to the road when they begin a three-game series at the Detroit Tigers on Monday. An 11-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday was the third in the last four games for the Indians, who hit three home runs in the contest and have slugged 12 over a five-game stretch.
Streaking shortstop Francisco Lindor did not go deep in the win but he was 3-for-4 and is batting .476 with eight home runs during a 14-game hitting streak. The Tigers opened their homestand by taking two of three from the Seattle Mariners, rallying in the ninth for a 5-4 victory Sunday. They managed 10 hits in the contest despite playing without the meat of their order, as rookie Jeimer Candelario (wrist) and Nicholas Castellanos (finger) both sat while veteran slugger Miguel Cabrera (hamstring) remains on the disabled list. Cleveland swept four straight from Detroit at home in April to extend their winning streak in the series to 11 in a row.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland), FS Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Carlos Carrasco (5-1, 3.61 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Mike Fiers (3-2, 4.73)
Carrasco tied for the American League lead in wins last year with 18 and is tied for second early in 2018 after a complete-game triumph at Milwaukee on Wednesday. He struck out 14 batters - one shy of his career high - while allowing five hits in the outing, lowering his opponents' batting average to .226. One of Carrasco's two complete games this year came in a dominating effort against Detroit on April 11, which left him 11-7 with a 3.67 ERA in his career against the Tigers.
Fiers failed to complete six innings for the fourth time in six starts his last time out but he limited the Texas Rangers to two runs in 5 1/3 innings to get the win. The 32-year-old has issued only five walks in 32 1/3 innings - one or fewer in each start. Yonder Alonso is 6-for-14 with two doubles and three walks against Fiers, who owns a 2.42 ERA in four career starts against Cleveland.
WALK-OFFS
1. Indians CF Bradley Zimmer (chest) missed the entire series against Kansas City.
2. Detroit has managed only 13 total runs during its 11-game losing streak to Cleveland.
3. Indians 3B Jose Ramirez has five home runs over his last nine contests.