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Twins host sizzling Indians on Wednesday
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 4/19/2017  at  8:42:00 AM
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CLEVELAND INDIANS (7-7)

at MINNESOTA TWINS (7-7)

First pitch: Wednesday, 8:10 p.m. ET
Line: Cleveland -135, Minnesota +125, Total: 9.0

The Twins will be hoping to prevent a fourth straight loss when they host the Indians on Wednesday.

The Indians are playing some good baseball right now, as they have won three of their past four games to get back to the .500 mark. Cleveland exploded offensively on Tuesday, beating Minnesota 11-4. The Indians racked up 12 hits in that game, helping the total go Over for the fourth time in six contests. The loss for the Twins, however, marked their third straight defeat. After a hot start to the season, Minnesota has now lost six of its past nine games. The team will be hoping to get back on track on Wednesday, but that won’t be easy against the squad that represented the American League in the World Series last year. The starters in this Wednesday night matchup are set to be RHP Trevor Bauer (0-2, 8.44 ERA, 13 K) for the Indians and LHP Adalberto Mejia (0-1, 4.05 ERA, 4 K) for the Twins. Bauer is really off to a miserable start to the season and Cleveland desperately needs him to get back on track. One trend that suggest the Indians are in good shape here is the fact that the Twins are a miserable 10-26 against the money line after a two game span where the bullpen threw nine innings or more over the past two seasons.

The Indians are back to .500 and SS Francisco Lindor (.351 BA, 4 HR, 10 RBI) is on fire right now. Lindor is on a 12-game hitting streak coming into this one, and he had two hits and two RBI against the Twins on Tuesday. Look for him to keep up his hot streak on Wednesday, as he is really in a groove at the plate. Another guy that should be able to contribute in this one is 2B Jose Ramirez (.365, 4 HR, 15 RBI). Ramirez is one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now, and he is currently second in the American League in RBI. This is not the type of matchup he should struggle in either, as Mejia is nothing special on the mound. As for Cleveland’s pitching in this one, Trevor Bauer should just be trying to earn something close to a quality start on Wednesday. He is off to a horrible start to the season, but he should be pressing to do too much in this one. If he pitches a solid game then this offense should be able to earn a win for the team.

The Twins are struggling after getting off to a hot start and they’ll be hoping that Mejia can get them back in the win column on Wednesday. In his most recent start, Mejia pitched five innings of one-run ball against the White Sox. He struck out four batters in that game, but he did walk three. He’ll need to be a bit sharper this time out, as he’s going up against a lineup that is full of guys that can do damage at the plate. Offensively, guys like 2B Brian Dozier (.241 BA, 2 HR, 3 RBI) and 3B Miguel Sano (.245 BA, 4 HR, 13 RBI) will need to make an impact on Wednesday. In order to keep up with the Indians, both guys will have to have their power on full display. Dozier has had a bit of a down year thus far, but he was not going to be able to replicate his numbers from last season.


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