The Cleveland Indians (64-56) are trying to stay alive in the American League Central division race, and can help themselves by taking advantage of a series with the Minnesota Twins (53-64) today at 1:10 p.m. at Target Field. Today's matinee is the rubber match of a three-game set and can be live streamed here. The Indians radio broadcast can be heard on WTAM 1100, while the Twins can be listened to on 96.3 K-TWIN.
The Indians will send Carlos Carrasco (0-4, 7.75 ERA) to the mound and will likely have to keep their fingers crossed with every pitch. Carrasco has dropped his last 10 decisions, and is facing a Twins team that has yet to lose back-to-back games in August.
The Twins counter with Kyle Gibson (2-3, 6.43 ERA) who hasn't won a game since July 4th. Today's pitching matchup makes this game a sneaky good opportunity for fans of big-time offense.
Gibson has pinned his issues in 2013 on being predictable with his pitch selection, and leaning too much on one or two pitches when they're working. "It's just something where I've got to make sure I stay out of patterns, but at the same time, don't go away from my strength," Gibson said. "If my strength is an inside fastball, even if the hitters know it's coming, I still have to be able to throw it."
He will be going up against a Cleveland lineup that's batting a combined .188 and averaging a paltry 2.9 runs per game while dropping seven of its last nine games. One of the main culprits has been Nick Swisher, acquired from the Yankees this offseason.
A pillar of consistent contribution while wearing pinstripes, Swish has hit just .238 in 2013, with 12 home runs and a meager 37 RBI. His OPS has dropped significantly as well, falling to .730 from last season's .837.
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