Preview: Bieber Looks to Rebound and Slow Down the Yankees at Progressive Field Tonight

CLEVELAND - The Indians and Yankees will do battle tonight at Progressive Field in game two of their four-game set to wrap up the first half of the season.

CLEVELAND - The Indians and Yankees will do battle tonight at Progressive Field in game two of their four-game set to wrap up the first half of the season.

Thursday night Corey Kluber's historic streak of winning games when getting four or more runs of support came to a close, as he was roughed up for six runs as the Yankees scored the winning run in the 8th when Aaron Hicks doubled to eventually get them to a 7-4 win.

The Tribe is ice cold after their five-game winning streak, as they've now lost five of their last six with the only win the beating of the Reds on Wednesday 19-4.

Here's a look at tonight's game with a quick preview.

Time: 7:10 p.m.

Starting Pitchers: RHP Shane Bieber vs. RHP Domingo German

TV: SportsTime Ohio

Online: MLB.TV

Radio: WTAM 1100am, Indians Radio Network

1. Can the Indians Rough Up the Rookie

Domingo German will make his 12th start for the Yankees tonight, and he comes into play with a 2-4 record sporting a 5.06 ERA.

He's allowed 42 runs in 74.2 innings, but did pitch well against the Blue Jays in his last start, allowing one run on four hits in six innings in a game that the Yankees won 2-1.

In that game German threw 100 pitches, just the second time he's gone over triple digits in pitches. He's mostly been in the 5-6 inning area when it comes to this starts, but with the quality of the Yankees pen it's not hurting the team at all.

The Tribe will look to get to him early as they did against Luis Severino scoring a pair in the first inning on Thursday night.

2. Bieber Looks to Rebound

Indians rookie hurler Shane Bieber will look to get back in the 'W' column tonight against the Yankees, this coming after a loss Sunday to the A's, his first in his Major League career.

In that loss to the A's, Bieber allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings, walking one, striking out seven and allowing a homer.

After giving up six runs in his first four starts, he's now allowed eight runs in his last two, a sign that teams might be catching on to him.

Tonight will be his toughest test as he goes against one of the best, if not the best, lineup in the American League.

3. Can the Pen Give Any Support?

The Indians bullpen continues to be the worst in all of baseball, and Thursday night they threw 1.2 innings, and things seemed to be going well - till a returning Tyler Olson came in.

Granted against the Yankees pen a two-run deficit might as well be like being down 10, but Olson, making his return to the mound after being on the DL, allowed a solo homer to Brett Gardner, pushing the NY lead to 7-4.

Oliver Perez, Neil Ramirez, Olson and Zach McAllister ended up combining for 1.2 innings, allowing the one run on one hit with no walks and two K's.

Terry Francona said after the game that he wasn't afraid to go to the pen and wasn't keeping the starters out there any longer based on how bad the pen has been, but it's got to be in the back of his mind on how awful this unit has been.

It's not a secret this team is on the lookout for one if now two arms to come in and give the pen some help as the trade deadline approaches.