Preview: Indians Look for 7th Straight in Afternoon Affair Against Orioles

The Cleveland Indians host the Baltimore Orioles for game two of their weekend series on Saturday afternoon. The Indians defeated the Orioles last night 2-1

The Cleveland Indians host the Baltimore Orioles for game two of their weekend series on Saturday afternoon. The Indians defeated the Orioles last night 2-1 behind another gem from Carlos Carrasco.

Cleveland benefited from seven strong innings of shutout baseball from Carrasco, Friday nights win was the Indians sixth straight. Cleveland will look to starter Adam Plutko Saturday afternoon when he takes the mound to face off against Alex Cobb (3-14, 5.31.)

Continue on for three keys to victory for the Tribe…

Time: 4:10 p.m.

Starting Pitchers: RHP Alex Cobb (3-15, 5.31) vs. RHP Adam Plutko (4-2, 4.75)

TV: SportsTime Ohio/Fox National

Online: MLB.TV

Radio: WTAM 1100am, Indians Radio Network

1. Thome sweet Thome

Long time Cleveland Indians star Jim Thome is being honored before Saturday afternoons game. Thome of course was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame a few weeks back, and today he his expected to get his No. 25 retired.

Thome would join Bob Lemon (No. 21) and Larry Doby ( No. 14) as Indians players who have reached the peak of having one's number retired.

Thome was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame last month with a Cleveland Indians franchise record of 337 home runs.

2. Dog Days of Summer

Entering Saturdays game the Indians are a season high 19 games over (70-51) and currently riding a six game win streak. For those of you who follow the team closely, you shouldn't be surprised by this stretch of baseball from the Tribe.

For one, they've been in a favorable stretch of their schedule but they've also seemed to turn a corner when the calendar turned to August.

Since the month began the Indians are (12-3) which is even more impressive when you consider the unfortunate string of injiries they've dealt with. With Trevor Bauer and Edwin Encarnacion being on the DL the Indians have had to have different guys step up.

Yandy Diaz has done his best to fill in For the loss of Encarnacion, Diaz is hitting a very impressive (.500.) Great teams have the ability to have withstand injuries and this recent stretch of baseball is a great sign for the Tribe.

3. Plutko's Chance

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Adam Plutko (4-2) will be making his seventh start this season. Plutko has split his time this season between the Tribe and the Indians AAA affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. In 14 starts in Columbus Plutko is (7-3) with an International League-leading 1.70 ERA.

Saturday will be Plutkos first start for Cleveland since losing on June 30th to Oakland. Saturday will mark his fourth start in the confines of Progressive Field, a place where he is (3-0) this season.

Pluko has the stuff to have a spot in the Indians rotation beyond a few spot starts, and unfortunately Trevor Bauer's injury gives him a chance to prove it.