The Cleveland Indians look to break their four-game losing streak and take one game of the series against the Oakland A's on Thursday afternoon. The Indians will send Justin Masterson (10-11, 4.60 ERA) to the mound. In his last start, Masterson ended a nine-game losing streak for the Tribe with a 3-1 win over the Yankees on Aug. 25, and Cleveland hopes he can stop the bleeding yet again. The A's will answer with Jarrod Parker (8-7, 3.52) on the mound, who pitched eight scoreless innings against the Indians on Aug. 19.
The Indians will make quite a few lineup changes on Thursday as well. Carlos Santana will DH for the Indians and Lou Marson will take the catching duties, Wednesday's DH Jason Kipnis will play at second base as Jason Donald will sit. Brent Lillibridge and Matt LaPorta are out of the lineup as Jack Hannahan and Casey Kotchman will take their places at third and first bases, respectively.
The first pitch is at 12:05 p.m. EST.
Cleveland Indians Lineup
1. Jason Kipnis - 2B
2. Asdrubal Cabrera - SS
3. Shin-Soo Choo - RF
4. Michael Brantley - CF
5. Carlos Santana - DH
6. Casey Kotchman - 1B
7. Ezequiel Carrera - LF
8. Jack Hannahan - 3B
9. Lou Marson - C
Oakland Athletics Lineup
1. Coco Crisp - CF
2. Stephen Drew - SS
3. Josh Reddick - RF
4. Yoenis Cespedes - DH
5. Seth Smith - LF
6. Brandon Moss - 1B
7. Josh Donaldson - 3B
8. George Kottaras - C
9. Cliff Pennington - 2B
For more on the Indians; check out Let's Go Tribe and SB Nation Cleveland.