Preview: Indians Looking for Their Fourth Victory in A Row

CLEVELAND – The Tribe and Tigers meet this evening with what is expected to be the warmest game played at Progressive Field this season in the third game of a

CLEVELAND – The Tribe and Tigers meet this evening with what is expected to be the warmest game played at Progressive Field this season in the third game of a four-game series with Detroit.

The Indians are 6-5 after Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Detroit, a game that saw the Indians jump out to an early lead in the first inning but the Tigers tied it up in the seventh inning.

The Indians jumped out in front once again in the 8th inning when Roberto Perez hit a solo homer to right center that eventually was the game winner, with Andrew Miller earning his first victory of the year and Cody Allen shutting the door in the 9th for his third save of the year.

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

Date: Wednesday, April 11

Time: 6:10 p.m. ET

Location: Progressive Field — Cleveland, OH

Starting Pitchers: Detroit - Jordan Zimmermann (0-0, 8.71) vs CLE – Carlos Carrasco (2-0, 5.40)

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.) Offense Needs to Score Without the Longball

In 2018 so far, the Cleveland Indians have struggled to score unless they are hitting the ball out of the park. The Indians are scoring 31 runs but their opposition is scoring 33 runs.

In 11 games the Indians have homered 12 times. Through the month of April during the 2017 season, Cleveland only hit 30 homers but managed to drive in 112 runs.

Out of the Indians 6 victories this season, the team has had homered in every game they have won besides their victory in the home opener against the Kansas City Royals.

After the game on Tuesday, Indians manager had the following to say about the teams pitching staff being stellar while the team tries to figure it out offensively:

"Our pitching staff has saved the day. It's not just pitching good, every game has been one run. There has not been much room for error. They have done a really good job on defense."

2.) Defense Needs to Continue to Limit the Errors

So far the Indians defensively have almost been perfect outside of two throwing errors committed by catcher Roberto Perez. Before Perez committed the first error for the Cleveland Indians last Saturday against the Kansas City Royals, the team went 71.2 innings without an error.

The Indians have stepped it up defensively it seems compared to other starts in previous seasons and errors were previously a big issue for the team. It is a great sign for the Indians starting strong defensively especially with the offense struggling a bit to start the season.

The Indians have averaged about 1.0 double plays a game which ranks them 9th in baseball and in the last three games have averaged around 1.33 double plays according to teamrankings.com

3.) Indians Looking To Continue Success Against Tigers

In 2016, the Indians had the Detroit Tigers number coming out on the winning end in 14 of the 18 games the two teams matched up against each other.

In 2017 the Cleveland Indians continued the success they had in 2016 and the team doesn't seem like they want to let up against their AL Central foe any time soon. In 19 games against the Tigers, the Indians won 13 of those games.

The Indians will be looking for their fourth win in a row tonight against the Tigers and their third win in this four-game series against Detroit.

Cleveland looks to have finally found some comfort this season and the team is looking to improve their home record to 5-1,