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Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago White Sox: The bounce-back game?

Can Trevor Bauer repeat his fine seasonal debut? And will the Tribe's bats finally rise from the ashes to overcome a left-handed pitcher?

Bob Levey/Getty Images

Chicago White Sox @ Cleveland Indians

Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 12:10 ET, Progressive Field

TV: STO, MLB.TV

Radio: WTAM

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Thankfully, reports on Carlos Carrasco all appear to be positive — remarkably, it looks like he will even be able to pitch on Monday. However, that's practically the only good news since Trevor Bauer last took the mound. Take a look at this:

  • Friday: After playing in just two of the first four, Michael Brantley suffers a recurrence of his back problems, leading to a run of missed games that continues to this day.
  • Saturday: Yan Gomes goes down with what is reportedly a 6-8 week knee injury.
  • Tuesday: The Tribe DFAs depth option Shaun Marcum, having invested the last 18 months or so overseeing his rehab.
  • Tuesday: Just hours later, Carlos Carrasco is hit in the face in what was a very scary incident for all baseball fans.
  • And oh, yes, the Tribe also lost four in a row at home, all by a margin of three runs or more.

Bauer was terrific last Thursday, throwing six innings of no-hit baseball that included 11 strikeouts. Unfortunately, he gave up four walks in the first two innings (and five in all) and that caused his pitch count to rocket to 111, leading to a relatively premature exit. If he can keep the free passes down today, then he should have a good day against what is not (Jose Abreu aside) a particularly dangerous White Sox line-up.

To the surprise of no-one, the White Sox turn to another lefty today. John Danks was going fairly well against the Royals in his last outing until he got collared for two doubles and a homer in the 6th inning. Ultimately, he gave up five hits and a walk in 5.2 IP, with five of those hits going for extra bases. Historically (including four games last year) the Tribe has usually hit pretty well against Danks, so we'll just have to hope that trend continues this afternoon.

Today's Lineups

CHICAGO WHITE SOX CLEVELAND INDIANS
Adam Eaton - CF Michael Bourn - CF
Melky Cabrera - LF Mike Aviles - LF
Jose Abreu - 1B Jason Kipnis - 2B
Adam LaRoche - DH Carlos Santana - 1B
Conor Gillaspie - 3B Jerry Sands - RF
Alexei Ramirez - SS Ryan Raburn - DH
J.B. Shuck - RF Lonnie Chisenhall - 3B
Geovany Soto - C Roberto Perez - C
Micah Johnson - 2B Jose Ramirez - SS
John Danks - LHP Trevor Bauer - RHP

Brandon Moss is rested after going 4/4 on strikeouts last night, which means we have the pleasure of seeing Mike Aviles patrolling the OF again, with Chisenhall replacing him at 3B and Sands sliding over from LF to RF.

Incidentally, today is Jackie Robinson Day — all players will be wearing No. 42.

Today's minor league action (the Clippers are off today):

12:05pm ET: Trenton (3-2) @ Akron (2-3) with Will Roberts starting for the RubberDucks.

11am ET: Lynchburg (2-3) @ Frederick (4-1) double-header with Michael Peoples and Mike Rayl up for Lynchburg.

6:30pm ET: West Michigan (2-4) @ Lake County (3-3) with Dace Kime on the mound.

Incidentally, if you would like to catch up on all the MiLB action so far, there is a 2015 farm roster overview here. You can find all the daily game scores, recaps, player analysis and LGT community chat in the comments to that article.