Indians face White Sox in 'twi-night' doubleheader
The Cleveland Indians' lineup has cooled off from a torrid stretch, but a matchup with struggling Chicago White Sox starter Mat Latos might reignite their hitters.
Cleveland will seek to add to Latos' woes in Monday's opener to a twi-night doubleheader in Chicago.
The Indians (22-19) outscored their opponents 47-18 while batting .328 in a season-best five consecutive wins, including Friday's opener in Boston, but they totaled three runs and eight hits while dropping the final two in the series.
Cleveland will try to get back on track against Latos, who is 1-1 with a 7.84 ERA in his last four starts. The right-hander was 4-0 with a 0.74 ERA in his first four with the White Sox (26-18).
Latos (5-1, 4.00 ERA) gave up five runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings Wednesday in a 5-3 loss to Houston.
"It stinks," he said. "Obviously, it's not the way that I want it to go. I'm tired of giving up runs. That's just the way the game goes sometimes."
The White Sox have lost eight of 11 since their AL-best 23-10 start but avoided a three-game home sweep to Kansas City with a 3-2 victory Sunday. Todd Frazier moved into a tie for the AL lead with his 13th homer and Melky Cabrera drove in the other two runs.
Chicago has scored 10 runs in its last five games and went 1 for 23 with runners in scoring position in the series against the Royals.
"Hopefully, we can keep tacking on some more runs, because we still left a couple out there today that we could have easily gotten," Frazier said. "We're still focused and determined to get those in."
Chicago has lost six of eight at home against Cleveland and split a pair of games in a rain-shortened series last month, necessitating this doubleheader.
Mike Clevinger (0-0, 6.75) will kick off the Indians' next attempt to earn a win in Chicago in his second major league start. The right-hander gave up four runs in 5 1/3 innings Wednesday in an 8-7 victory in 12 innings in Cincinnati.
"I thought he kept his composure real well. I thought his pitches were good," manager Terry Francona told MLB's official website. "He made a couple mistakes late, but I don't care if you're coming up from Triple-A or you're a (veteran), that's major league stuff. And he's only going to get better with experience."
Cody Anderson (0-3, 7.99) is slated to start the finale for Cleveland and gave up a season-high six runs in 4 1/3 innings last Monday against Cincinnati. He avoided a loss because the Indians slugged their way to a 15-6 victory.
Anderson is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA in two starts versus the White Sox. He allowed two runs in six innings in his season debut April 9 but didn't get a decision in a 7-3 loss.
Erik Johnson (0-1, 7.20) is slated to make his first start against Cleveland in the nightcap. He allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings in his only MLB outing this season, a 7-3 loss to Boston on May 5.
Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor, batting .419 in his last 10 games, is a career .386 hitter against the White Sox.
Jose Abreu is batting .440 with three home runs in his past seven matchups versus Cleveland. He is 3 for 6 with a solo homer lifetime against Anderson.
