PREVIEW: Indians take on Kansas City in a weekend series

KANSAS CITY-- The Indians will travel to Kansas City to take on the Royals to finish out the month of August and their seven game road trip. After a four-game split (losing the last two) against the Boston Red Sox, the Tribe will look to continue their dominance against the Royals and stellar road play since the beginning of July.

Time: 8:15pm

Pitching Matchup: Mike Clevinger (9-7, 3.25 ERA) vs. Brad Keller (6-5, 3.32 ERA)

TV: STO

Online: MLB.TV

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

Here’s three things to look forward to in tonight’s game.

1. The return of Edwin Encarnacion

The Tribe slugger returned Wednesday from the 10-day disabled list after a bruised bicep forced him to miss time. Edwin has been a consistent power hitter and run producer this year. Batting .229 with 25 home runs and 81 RBI, he returned against Boston and hit two home runs and drove in four runs. Adding him back to the Indians lineup makes them very dangerous as he, Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, Jose Ramirez and Yonder Alonso all have at least 70 RBI.

2. Clevinger getting his groove back

After a July to forget Mike Clevinger has been solid in August. In his four starts this month he is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. The hard throwing right hander has struck out 22 batters, walked eight and only been charged with six earned runs over that time frame. If Clevinger is able to maintain his current form then the loss of Trevor Bauer shouldn’t hurt their rotation as much.

3. Continued AL Central Dominance

The Tribe is 37-17 against AL Central opponents and look continue dominating in division. Coming into this series they will play 22 more games in their division and could challenge either the Houston Astros or Oakland A’s for homefield in the divisional matchup.