Indians play Tampa Bay, aim to build on Clevinger's strong performance
Cleveland Indians (79-55, second in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (77-58, second in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Friday, 7 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Indians: Shane Bieber (12-6, 3.23 ERA) Rays: Austin Pruitt (2-0, 5.57 ERA)
BOTTOM LINE: Cleveland heads into the matchup fresh off a dominant performance by Mike Clevinger. Clevinger went eight innings, giving up zero runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts against Detroit.
The Rays are 34-31 in home games. The Tampa Bay pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.72, Charlie Morton paces the staff with a mark of 3.11.
The Indians have gone 38-28 away from home. The Cleveland offense has compiled a .251 batting average as a team this season, Francisco Lindor leads the team with a mark of .301.
TOP PERFORMERS: Austin Meadows leads the Rays with 24 home runs and is slugging .529. Tommy Pham has 12 hits and is batting .316 over the last 10 games for Tampa Bay.
Carlos Santana leads the Indians with 80 RBIs and is batting .291. Franmil Reyes is 8-for-25 with two doubles, four home runs and 10 RBIs over the last 10 games for Cleveland.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 4-6, .256 batting average, 6.17 ERA, outscored by 25 runs
Indians: 6-4, .243 batting average, 2.74 ERA, outscored opponents by 11 runs
Rays Injuries: Blake Snell: (elbow), Tyler Glasnow: (forearm), Yonny Chirinos: (finger), Jose Alvarado: (elbow), Kevin Kiermaier: (undisclosed), Brandon Lowe: (leg), Yandy Diaz: (foot).
Indians Injuries: Danny Salazar: (groin), Jefry Rodriguez: (shoulder), Dan Otero: (shoulder), Tyler Olson: (undisclosed), Corey Kluber: (arm), A.J. Cole: (shoulder), Carlos Carrasco: (leukemia), Cody Anderson: (elbow), Bradley Zimmer: (shoulder), Jordan Luplow: (hamstring), Jose Ramirez: (wrist), Christian Arroyo: (forearm).
