Preview: Indians Try To Find Offense Saturday Afternoon Against Orioles

By: Corey Perez The Cleveland Indians continue their series against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon after dropping the first game on Friday night,

By: Corey Perez

The Cleveland Indians continue their series against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon after dropping the first game on Friday night, 3-1. After a stagnant offensive showing in the opener, the Tribe’s bats will look to find the production they had in Cleveland during the last homestand.

Here’s a look at the breakdown for today’s Indians game vs the Orioles:

Date: Saturday April 21st
Time: 4:05 p.m. ET
Location: Oriole Park at Camden Yards — Baltimore, Maryland
Starting Pitchers:Baltimore – Chris Tillman (0-3, 11.91) vs CLE – Mike Clevinger (1-0, 2.70)
TV Channel: FS1
Online Stream: MLB.TV
Radio: AM WTAM 1100 and WMMS 100.7

1) Wake Up Bats

The Cleveland Indians have scored one run in back to back games and unsurprisingly they have lost two straight, including game 1 of their four game set with the Baltimore Orioles. In both of the Indians last two games the starting pitching has been great, but haven't been able to meet them halfway and produce runs. As Cleveland hitters are 1-21 with runners in scoring position, and have left a staggering 21 runners on base over the course of the last two games.

Luckily for the Tribe they face a pitcher Saturday afternoon that has had his own struggles this season, as Tillman has surrendered at least seven hits and four runs in all of his starts this season. With that being said it seems like the perfect remedy for a team struggling to score runs, considering the Indians lineup has talent riddled throughout, something is bound to give this afternoon.

2) Finding his way

Saturday’s starter for the Indians is Mike Clevinger who is 2-0 in his career vs Baltimore with a 3.60 ERA. While that is an extremely small sample size to go from it is promising to see that Clevinger has had success vs the Orioles, albeit brief.

The Tribe right-hander has struck out 14 batters in 16 ⅔ innings this season, and he looks to continue that success vs a struggling Baltimore offense. Until their victory Friday night, the Orioles had lost six straight. This is Clevinger’s second season in the majors and he has become quite the bookend to Tribe rotation as he is a consistent guy you can count on every fifth day.

3) Smooth sailing

Especially considering the health history of one Michael Brantley, Brantley has been one of the biggest bright spots for the Indians offense as he’s hitting .351 with 6 RBI. If the Indians are able to get this type of play from a veteran like Brantley they should be able to keep themselves afloat until the rest of the bats wake up.