Cleveland Guardians
Indians cross bay to face Giants (Jul 17, 2017)
Cleveland Guardians

Indians cross bay to face Giants (Jul 17, 2017)

Published Jul. 17, 2017 2:54 a.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO -- Something will have to give over the next three days when two of the season's worst teams in interleague play, the Cleveland Indians and San Francisco Giants, meet in a series that begins Monday night.

Indians right-hander Josh Tomlin and Giants lefty Matt Moore, each struggling through a losing season, will square off in the opener.

The Indians are the American League's losingest team in interleague play this season, having gone 3-11. Their .214 interleague winning percentage is better than just one AL team -- Oakland (2-8, .200).

Coincidentally, the first-place Indians were swept by the A's in the three-game series to open the season's second half on the east side of the San Francisco Bay.

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Cleveland's traveling party didn't even need to change hotels to move on to its next series on the west side of the Bay Bridge.

The Giants, meanwhile, are 3-7 in interleague play. Their .300 winning percentage is better than just two National League teams -- Philadelphia (3-8, .273) and St. Louis (3-8, .273).

Neither the Indians nor the Giants have won an interleague series this season.

Cleveland will begin the series on a four-game losing streak, equaling its longest tailspin since July 2015.

"It's discouraging for a number of reasons," Indians manager Terry Francona said Sunday after Cleveland's 7-3 loss, a contest in which his starting pitcher, Trevor Bauer, couldn't finish the first inning. "You're trying to salvage a game out of the series and you're down four before you can even look up. That's a hard way to play, and then you go through your whole bullpen. That wasn't our goal for today."

Tomlin (5-9, 5.90 ERA) is coming off a strong effort in an 11-2 win over the San Diego Padres on July 6. He allowed just two runs and four hits in seven innings in recording his first win since June 15.

The 32-year-old had been roughed up for 13 runs and 25 hits over 15 innings in his previous three starts.

Tomlin has never faced the Giants in his career.

The teams have not met since 2014, when San Francisco swept a three-game home series to run its winning streak against the Indians to seven straight.

The Giants lead the all-time series 12-4, counting a stunning four-game sweep in the 1954 World Series over a 111-win Indians club. The Giants were playing out of New York at the time.

Moore (3-9, 6.04 ERA) will be facing the Indians for the first time as a Giant. He made six starts against Cleveland earlier in his career as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, logging a 2-1 record and 3.81 ERA.

The 28-year-old has won just once in his past 10 starts dating back to May 19, going 1-5 over that stretch.

His most recent outing was one of his worst. He was bombed by the Miami Marlins for five runs and 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings in a 6-1 loss on July 7.

"We've got to get him back on a roll and back to who he was last year," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Moore, who went 6-5 with a 4.08 ERA after joining San Francisco at the trade deadline last summer. "Everybody has their hiccups, individually and as a team. That's the humbling part of this game. That's why you've got to keep on pushing."

Like the Indians, the Giants haven't been firing on all cylinders since the All-Star break. In a series highlighted by Madison Bumgarner's return from a shoulder injury, San Francisco lost two of three at San Diego in a duel of the bottom two teams in the NL West.

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