Preview : Corey Kluber and the Indians Look to Take the Second Game Against Toronto on Saturday

The Indians and Blue Jays meet this afternoon with what is expected to be a rather windy and rainy day in the second game of a three-game series with Toronto.

The Indians and Blue Jays meet this afternoon with what is expected to be a rather windy and rainy day in the second game of a three-game series with Toronto. Wind can definitely be a factor if this game does get in today.

The Indians are 8-6 after Friday's 8-4 loss to Toronto, a game that saw the Indians score two runs in the first and second inning, which gave the team an early 4-0 lead over the Blue Jays. In the fourth inning, things started to unravel for Mike Clevinger though, as Toronto tied the game at 4. Later in the 7th inning, the Blue Jays took the lead following a Teoscar Hernandez RBI double off of Andrew Miller. After Toronto jumped out to a lead the team did not look back, in the 9th inning, the Blue Jays added three more runs to seal the deal.

Today the Indians will be looking to bounce back from Friday night's loss and will be looking to pick up their first win of the series.

Here’s a look at the breakdown for today’s game with the Blue Jays.

Date: Saturday, April 14

Time: 4:10 p.m. ET

Location: Progressive Field — Cleveland, OH

Starting Pitchers: Toronto – Jaime Garcia (1-0, 3.18) vs CLE – Corey Kluber (1-1, 1.57)

TV Channel: Sports Time Ohio

Online Stream: MLB.TV

Radio: AM WTAM 1100 and WMMS 100.7

Click the next pages for a preview of today’s battle at Progressive Field.

1.) Cy Kluber 

It seems as if whenever Corey Kluber takes the hill for the Indians it is nearly a guaranteed win.

So far in his 8-year career, Kluber has had three 18 win seasons and has had two consecutive seasons of 18 wins. The two-time Cy Young winner can also pile up the strikeouts when he starts to get on a role. Last season Kluber finished the year four strikeouts shy of tying his personal best of 269 strikeouts in a season, that was set in the 2014 season.

For the 2018 season, Kluber is 1-1 with an ERA of 1.57, already has one complete game, walked 4 hitters and has struck out 27 batters.

Kluber is coming off of his best start of the 2018 season which was this past Monday against the Detroit Tigers. Kluber tossed 8 innings pitched, gave up 2 hits, 0 runs, walked one batter, and struck out 13 Tigers' hitters.

Kluber came away with his first victory of the 2018 season in that start.

2.) Get to Jaime Garcia Early

The Indians were able to get to Blue Jays starter, Marcus Stroman on Friday when they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after two innings but were not able to get the victory following a four-run fourth inning that tied the game up.

Jaime Garcia is still fairly new to the American League after playing his whole career with the St. Louis Cardinals up until 2016. During the 2017 season, Garcia couldn't necessarily find a place to stay as he played for three different teams that year. Garcia started the year out with the Atlanta Braves, then was moved to the Minnesota Twins, and the Minnesota Twins traded him to the New York Yankees right before the trade deadline arrived. Heading into the 2018 season, Garcia only made 9 regular season starts in the AL.

To start the year off Garcia pitched in 6 innings, gave up four hits, allowed one earned run, walked two, and struck out 7 batters. Garcia earned a no-decision in his first start of the year. In his next start, he earned his first win of the year but only pitched in 5.1 innings, gave up 5 hits, allowed three earned runs, walked two, and struck out 5 batters.

If the Indians get an early lead I expect the team to come out victorious because not only is Kluber pitching but after having an early lead in a game which you once thought was going to be a victory, you do not allow that to happen two days in a row.

3.) Few Indians Hitters Heating Up Early As The Temperatures Rise

Heading into Saturday afternoon's game Francisco Lindor seems to have been seeing the ball very well. Lindor in the last three games is 7-14 which has spiked his average up from .175 to start the week to .241 heading into the game. Lindor has hit four doubles, one homer, has driven in 5 runs, and has scored a run 5 times.

As some Indians are snapping out of struggles such as Jason Kipnis snapping a 0-23 hitless streak on Wednesday, and Edwin Encarnacion snapping a 0-21 hitless streak on Friday; the offense is looking to have more consistent hitting begin.

With the team being 14 games into the season, the Indians have 7 batters that are currently hitting about a .200 batting average. In the first 14 games, the Tribe is yet to hit a triple and will be looking to do so on Saturday.