Preview: Indians Greet Mariners For Second Time This Season

CLEVELAND, Ohio– The Cleveland Indians (13-9) welcome the Seattle Mariner (13-10) to town for the first game of a four-game weekend series. The Tribe faced the Mariners during the opening week in which the team lost the series.

Rewind to last nights game, all can say it’s not easy to lose your top pitcher like Andrew Miller. Coming to relieve for Trevor Bauer, Miller only threw two pitches and left the game with a left hamstring tightness. For Bauer who pitched tremendously gave up only one run striking out eight in six innings of work. Also, had some runs support, thanks to Brandon Guyer, Francisco Lindor, and Edwin Encarnacion who all homered to give the team a 4-1 win.

Time: 6:10 p.m.

Starting Pitchers: CLE: Mike Clevinger (2-0, 1.75 ERA) Vs. SEA: James Paxton (1-1, 5.61 ERA)

TV: SportsTime Ohio

Online: MLB.TV

Radio: WTAM 1100 AM, WMMS 100.7 FM, Indians Radio Network

1. Facing another lefty
The Indians will face another left-hander tonight, James Paxton who lost against the Tribe in the second game of the season. Tribe batters attacked Paxton early on starting with Yonder Alonso hitting a Grand Slam in the first inning.

However, facing a left-hander haven't gone so well for the Tribe this year only batting .209 as a team. Like last night, expect to see more Rajai Davis and Brandon Guyer more in this series as Seattle will start two left-handers pitchers this series.

2. Mike Clevinger on the hill
Indians starter Mike Clevinger will be making his fifth start of the year after having a career day against the Orioles last Saturday pitching a complete game.

This will be the first career start for Clevinger against the Mariners and it will be a test for the right-hander. We can believe that Clevinger has worked hard in becoming a pitcher that the Indians are hoping he can be. 2-0 start? So far so good.

3. No Harm
All I can say the first Mariners series didn't go as planned on opening week. But, this series is important for both teams as they're trying to go into the month of May on a good note.

One thing the Tribe has to be aware of is Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager, who all three owns Cleveland in their careers especially at Progressive Field. The Mariners will put out their two of their best starting pitchers on the mound as Cleveland has the advantage by starting three of their best starters.

The story is about runs supports. However, Tribe is still averaging three runs a game runs support been a big factor in last week.