After seeing Detroit snatch victory from the jaws of defeat last night to maintain their three-game lead over the Tribe, the Indians will try to keep the pressure on and sweep the Minnesota Twins when the two clubs face off at Progressive Field this afternoon at 1:05.
Kevin Slowey (0-0, 4.91 ERA) will go for Minnesota. Slowey is 6-2 in his career vs. Cleveland in 10 starts, with an ERA of 3.52 in 61.1 innings of work, but he will be making his first start of an injury-plagued season this afternoon. Slowey has worked only 14.2 innings in 2011, with a six-inning relief appearance on May 15 his longest outing of the year.
Today will mark Slowey’s first action in the Majors since May 20 at Arizona, when he worked only two-thirds of an inning against the Diamondbacks.
David Huff (1-1, 0.51 ERA) will be getting the start for The Good Guys after being recalled from Columbus. Huff last pitched for the big club on August 2, when he went five innings and gave up only an unearned run but got no decision against the Boston Red Sox.
Of Huff’s three outings in 2011, one was vs. the Twins. Huff went seven scoreless innings in his first time on the mound this season at Minnesota on July 18, and got the victory in a 5-2 Tribe win.
That triumph moved Huff to 3-5 lifetime against the Twins, with a 5.52 ERA in 44 frames worked.
Today’s game will be the 12th meeting of 2011 between the Twins and Indians, and a Cleveland win today would even the season series at 6-6.
The Tribe is off tomorrow, and will next play on Tuesday night in Chicago against the White Sox, who are only two games back of Cleveland, in third place in the AL Central. The game on Tuesday will begin a stretch of 44 games in the season’s final 44 days, with only two scheduled days off in over six weeks, which will be balanced out by two doubleheaders.
Get the win today and enjoy your rest tomorrow, Indians. You’re going to need both.