Series Preview: Indians vs. Royals

The Indians and Royals will wrap up their season series over a four-game set this week. To date, the Tribe lead 4-2 and have outscored the Royals 29-8. Not much has changed since the Indians tooks two of three last weekend — the Royals are still bad, the Indians are still good, and water is still wet. The series opener will give the Indians another shot at Brad Keller, who held the Indians to one hit over 6.1 innings on Aug. 31.

Looking out into the AL Central as a whole the Twins are ever-so-slowly fading in the race for the division title, but the White Sox and Indians are separated by just 0.5 games and 7-3 in their last 10 games. Minnesota will get a crack at both teams over the next week, so it still very much a three-team race.

Team in a box

Projected starters

Monday, Sept. 7, 6:10 p.m. ET: RHP Brad Keller vs. Zach Plesac
Brad Keller’s last outing against the Indians was great, and hardly an outlier for him this season. The 25-year-old righty started the year with three-straight shutouts before a five-run clunker in St. Louis. He didn’t have a lot of swing and miss stuff against the Indians last time, but his three-pitch combination of a four-seamer, slider, and sinker worked to keep the Indians off the bases.

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 6:10 p.m. ET: RHP Jakob Junis vs. Triston McKenzie
Jakob Junis was knocked out after 4.0 innings in his start against the Indians, striking out just one and allowing two earned runs off four hits.

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 6:10 p.m. ET: LHP Danny Duffy vs. Carlos Carrasco
The Indians and Danny Duffy haven’t faced off since the season opener. In that start, Duffy allowed two earned runs in 4.1 innings. His last two starts have come against the White Sox in which he allowed nine earned runs over 11.2 innings with nine strikeouts.

Thursday, Sept. 10, 6:10 p.m. ET: RHP Brady Singer vs. Aaron Civale
Rookie Brady Singer has been the victim of some big time AL Central hitting. All but one of the 24-year-old’s starts have been inside the division, and most of the time it has been the Twins and White Sox racking up runs against him.

Royals roster

• 40-man roster
• Depth chart