Trevor Bauer faces off against yet another iffy left-handed pitcher

Cleveland Indians @ Detroit Tigers

Monday, May 1, 2017. 7:10 PM EST, Comerica Field at Comerica Park of Detroit (A Comerica City™)

TV: STO

Radio: WTAM, WMMS

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The Indians are 2-7 against left-handed starters in 2017.

It's become a bit of a joke that the Indians simply can't hit soft-tossing lefties, or even lefties at all. I'm calling shenanigans. I predict that the Indians finally slaughter a left-handed pitcher tonight, and reach the Tigers' bullpen by the third inning. Don't feel too badly for Daniel Norris of the Tigers. He's got a daytime job, he's doin' all right.

I'm sure that you're all aware of the ... uh, quality of Tiger relievers. Such an outcome would bode quite well. At the beginning of a long road trip and a divisional matchup, getting deep into the pen tonight would do nothing but favors for the Tribe.

Trevor Bauer marches out to the mound for Cleveland with a 2-2 record. His ERA sits at 6.26, but that's with a cFIP of 94, suggesting that he's been slightly above average when defensive-independent pitching statistics are controlled for context (example context: Bauer walking Joey Votto in an April downpour is not as bad as Kyle Hendricks walking Michael Martinez in a dome). Norris is at 105, suggesting that he is slightly below average so far this season. 100 is average. Living Legend Chris Devenski is at 56.

Other Indians Starters:

Danny Salazar - 77
Carlos Carrasco - 88
Corey Kluber - 102
Josh Tomlin - 111

cFIP and DRA are both interesting ways to look at pitching, and to me cFIP more or less restates what we've witnessed so far this season: an average Kluber who is picking up steam, an excellent Carrasco... and Salazar is a little confusing until you remember that he's striking out 13 per 9 and has a BABIP of .360 at the moment.

Sorry for the tangent. Anyway, here are: