Indians at Twins
Eduardo Escobar has followed a cold stretch with a red-hot three games, and the infielder hopes to extend that when the Minnesota Twins host the Cleveland Indians on Saturday in the third of four contests between the American League Central rivals. Escobar is 6-for-12 over his last three outings with three homers, including a pair in Friday’s 7-4 victory that ended Minnesota’s three-game slide, after a 2-for-29 slump.
Escobar boasts seven RBIs in the hot stretch and slugger Miguel Sano has knocked in 10 over the last five contests while Eddie Rosario continues to shine for the Twins, going 13-for-31 during his seven-game hitting streak. Lance Lynn goes after his third straight victory when he takes the mound for Minnesota on Saturday and the Indians will counter with Trevor Bauer, who sits inside the top 10 of AL in ERA (2.61). Cleveland saw its season-high, six-game winning streak come to an end Friday as it gave up three runs in the first inning and could never recover. Edwin Encarnacion takes an eight-game hitting streak into the third contest of the series for the Indians after launching his fourth homer and pushing his RBI total to 11 during that span Friday night.
TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1
PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Trevor Bauer (4-3, 2.61 ERA) vs. Twins RH Lance Lynn (3-4, 5.94)
Bauer struck out a season-high 13 over 7 1/3 innings Sunday in a no-decision against Houston as the Indians rallied for a 10-9 victory. The 27-year-old UCLA product, who has 86 strikeouts in 72 1/3 innings overall in 2018, defeated Detroit and the Chicago Cubs in his previous two starts while yielding 11 hits in 14 scoreless frames. Rosario is 11-for-29 with a homer versus Bauer, who is 4-6 with a 4.85 ERA in 16 career appearances (15 starts) against Minnesota.
Lynn is beginning to recover from a rough start, winning his last two turns while permitting just two runs on 11 hits and four walks over 12 2/3 innings combined. The 31-year-old Ole Miss product managed only one victory in his first eight starts with the Twins, completing more than five innings twice in that stretch. Jason Kipnis is 1-for-2 with a double and a walk versus Lynn, who pitched six scoreless innings against Cleveland in their only meeting for a win in 2015.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cleveland CF Greg Allen, who doubled and tripled Friday, is 11-for-27 during his seven-game hitting streak.
2. Minnesota RHP Fernando Rodney notched his 312th career save Friday to pass Tom Henke for 22nd in major-league history.
3. Indians LF Michael Brantley has gone 0-for-3 in each of the last two contests after stringing together a 19-game hitting streak.