Cleveland Indians vs. Baltimore Orioles series preview

With a very successful road trip in the books, the Tribe returns home to take on the defending AL East champion Baltimore Orioles.  A win in this series will finally get the Tribe over the season median. This is only Cleveland's second series against an AL East team this season

• Friday's game is at 7:10 PM (Tillman vs. Marcum)
• Saturday's game is at 4:10 PM (Jimenez vs. Salazar)
• Sunday's game is at 1:05 PM (Wright vs. Carrasco)

After this series, the Indians take a day off on Monday and then the Seattle Mariners make their lone visit to Progressive early next week. The Indians start another short five game road trip to Detroit and Wrigley

Division Watch: Brewers at Twins, Rangers at Royals, Tigers at White Sox.

Team in a Box

The Orioles have struggled this season, but not as poorly as the Tribe's April. They still are within shouting distance of first place even though they are in five games under 0.500. The Orioles have lost five of their past seven games, losing two of three to Tampa and then three of four in Houston. The offense has really tailed off from last year, with the power taking a dive downwards. The pitching staff has been alright, but nothing special. The defense has been fairly decent as well.

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Projected Roster

This lineup doesn't reflect the fact that Matt Wieters is expected to make his debut this weekend. Injuries to Hardy and Schoop have hurt the lineup and bench, with Hardy day-to-day at the moment. Cabrera was not successful in his time filling in for Hardy. And Hardy has been fairly awful himself. And moving Flaherty from his utility role, while it has paid off in the lineup, has forced more of Pearce or Cabrera in the lineup. Overall the lineup is pretty solid with Paredes leading the way. The poor seasons of Pearce and Lough has forced Young to play more than he probably should. Additionally, Alejandro De Aza was recently dealt to the Red Sox after being designated for assignment, which will open a roster spot for Wieters.

Davis, Young and Flaherty have been the main sticks over the past two weeks with OPS north of 800. Davis has been especially hot with four homers and 10 RBI. Jones, Hardy and Parades have had sub 600 in that  same span. Jones has a 1077 OPS vs. Marcum while no other player appears to have more than 10 PA against Marcum, Salazar or Carrasco.

Edit: Wieters has been activated. He hasn't played since May 2014. Clevenger was optioned out, sliding Joseph to the bench. Also Cabrera was DFA'ed. He was replaced by Rey Navarro, who made his 2015 debut on 4/24.

Projected Staff

The rotation for this series does lineup fairly well for the Tribe. They miss both Gonzalez and the lone lefty in Chen. Tillman had a rough May, 5.03 ERA in six starts (0-5), 1.44 WHIP and 7.4 K/9. The Indians have hit him hard in four of his five Tribe starts. Ubaldo has turned around his poor 2014 season. His overall numbers are very good, but he hasn't really had a dominant start yet. He is 1-1 in his past five starts, 3.77 ERA in 31 innings 1.32 WHIP and 9.3 K/9. He lost both starts against the Indians in 2014, getting pummeled for 11 runs in 8.1 innings. Wright made his debut on May 17 and didn't allo a run until his third start. The Astros got to him for five runs last time out.

Edit: Matusz will begin serving his eight game suspension for using a foreign substance. Wright was optioned out and Cesar Cabral was recalled in his stead. He is lefty to replace Matusz in the pen who has good K numbers in the minors this year. He was in the Yankees system til this spring. On Sunday, another move will need to be made to activate Norris to replace Wright. He has won both of his starts against the Indians.

On the Shelf

• Jason Garcia [15 day DL], no timetable for return
• SP Kevin Gausman [15 day DL], possible early June return, on A rehab
• SP Bud Norris [15 day DL], possible early June return, on AAA rehab
• 2B Jonathan Schoop [15 day DL], possible July return
• C Matt Wieters [60 day DL], likely June 5 return
• RP Wesley Wright [60 day DL], possible early June return

Almanac

*Does not include 2015 stats

Prediction: I think the Indians take two of three to make the operation 500/100 prediction come true.