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Series preview: Cleveland Indians at Kansas City Royals

Sitting 5.5 games back after taking two of three in Chicago, the Indians head to Kansas City to take on the division leading Royals.

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Gordon, Dyson and Cain
Gordon, Dyson and Cain
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Indians finish their two-stop trip in Kansas City, trying to make a dent in the Royals' 5.5 game lead in the Al Central.

  • Friday's game is at 8:10 PM (Salazar vs. Vargas)
  • Saturday's game is at 7:10 PM (Bauer vs. Shields)
  • Sunday's game is at 8:00 PM (House vs. Duffy) [ESPN]

The string of AL Central opponents continues on Monday at Progressive Field, when the Tigers visit for four games, followed by the White Sox and Twins, with a make-up date with the Angels squeezed in.

Playoff Watch: Tigers at White Sox, Nationals at Mariners, Yankees at Blue Jays, Red Sox at Rays.

Team in a Box

Kansas City Royals

Offense

AL Rank

Pitching

AL Rank

2014 Record

74-59

Runs/Game

4.1

9th

Runs/Game

3.9

5th

AL Central

1st

OBP

313

10th

H/9

8.6

7th

Last 10

6-4

SLG

380

11th

BB/9

2.8

4th

Last 30

21-9

Steals

120

1st

SO/9

7.2

11th

Since the Indians last saw the Royals at the end of July, they have been scorching hot. They have not lost a series since, save a one game makeup game with the Yankees. They may lead the division, but their numbers don't quite support being that high. They are four games over their Pythag. The offense is still pretty mediocre, with speed being its biggest asset. The pitching has been good, especially on the pen, but overall not otherworldy as the overall stats are middle of the pack. And the defense, while better than ours (duh), is just ninth in the league overall.

The first series in April had the Tribe win two of three. They didn't meet again until June when the Royals swept a two gamer from the Tribe in Kansas City in their first real hot streak. The Indians then took two of three in Progressive in early July before losing three of four in Kansas City towards the end of July.

Projected Roster

Pos

Player

Bats

PA

BA

OPS

C

Salvador Perez

R

492

266

715

1B

Billy Butler

R

532

278

721

2B

Omar Infante

R

463

255

645

3B

Mike Moustakas

L

400

208

648

SS

Alcides Escobar

R

500

273

672

LF

Alex Gordon

L

526

282

813

CF

Lorenzo Cain

R

396

300

744

RF

Nori Aoki

L

438

264

667

DH

Josh Willingham#

R

327

217

761

IF

Christian Colon

R

42

308

819

C

Erik Kratz

R

20

368

1034

OF

Jarrod Dyson

L

253

289

691

DH

Raul Ibanez*

L

266

172

550

# Includes Twins stats; * Include Angels' stats

With Eric Hosmer on the DL, the Twins went out and got Willingham to platoon with Ibanez as the DH while Butler covers at first. He immediately becomes a power threat in a lineup devoid of too many options. Gordon leads the team with 17 and Perez and Moustakas have 15 apiece, no one else has more than 10. Gordon is still their most dangerous hitter. Escobar, Dyson and Cain all have 20+ steals with Aoki chipping in 15. Kratz and Colon look like decent options off the bench, albeit in small sample sizes. Infante has missed the past few games with a minor injury.

Moustakas has worn out the Cleveland staff this year, 267/313/733, including six bombs. Butler is hitting 295/304/500, but no other regular has cracked 800 OPS in the 13 games. Gordon has been the poorest at 167/196/271 and Infante and Perez both have sub-600 OPS in those games.

Projected Staff

Player

Throws

ERA

IP

WHIP

K/9

James Shields

R

3.45

185.0

1.254

7.1

Jason Vargas

L

3.17

156.1

1.228

5.9

Yordano Ventura

R

3.40

145.2

1.304

7.7

Jeremy Guthrie

R

4.43

172.2

1.326

5.8

Danny Duffy

L

2.47

134.2

1.069

6.8

Greg Holland

R

1.72

52.1

1.013

12.6

Wade Davis

R

0.77

58.1

0.823

13.4

Kelvin Herrera

R

1.45

56.0

1.143

7.9

Francisley Bueno

L

4.03

29.0

1.276

5.6

Jason Frasor#

R

2.97

39.1

1.297

8.9

Scott Downs*

L

5.29

34.0

1.471

6.6

Bruce Chen

L

7.45

48.1

1.759

6.7

# Includes Rangers' stats; * Includes White Sox stats

The Indians do miss the young flamethrower, but also miss their worst starter in Guthrie. They do get to face both lefties and their ace Shields. Vargas has paid off on his free agent deal so far. Since returning to the rotation in August, he has 2.59 ERA, 1.213 WHIP and 5.7 K/9. He won one of his two Tribe starts this year, 3.29 ERA, 1.024 WHIP and 4.6 K/9. The Yankees hit Shields pretty well last time out, but he still has a 3.28 ERA, 1.122 WHIP and 5.3 K/9 in his last five starts. He won his only Tribe start, six innings, two runs, one earned, six hits, one walk and nine strikeouts. Duffy finally looks like the top prospect he was in 2011. In the past month he has a 2.64 ERA, 0.913 WHIP and 6.5 K/9. He has two starts and a relief appearance against Cleveland this year, 2.40 ERA, 1.067 WHIP and 9.0 K/9.

As scary as Holland, Davis and Herrera have been, it is the rest of the bullpen that has been in constant flux this season. Thirteen different guys have appeared there with Aaron Crow (recently demoted) the only one with over 30 innings. Chen is definitely one lefty the Tribe hits well, 9.58 ERA in 10.1 innings. But other than Guthrie and Crow, the rest of the Royals staff has a 3.30 ERA or better and a WHIPs really close to 1.000. Davis is the one who has flirted with danger, he has allowed 12 baserunners in four innings but only one has scored.

On the Shelf

  • RP Luke Hochevar [60 day DL], out for season
  • 1B Eric Hosmer [15 day DL], possible early September return
  • P Michael Mariot [60 day DL], out for season

Almanac

W

L

Pct

RS

RA

Pythag

2014

6

7

462

54

57

475

2013

10

9

526

81

83

489

Last 5*

50

41

549

484

422

562

Last 10*

105

78

574

985

821

583

All-Time

319

304

512

2910

2705

533

*Does not include 2014 stats

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