Yankees' Girardi expects 'tough series' with Indians
CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees will meet for the first time this season Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series at Progressive Field.
Both teams are coming off losses on Wednesday. Cleveland fell 12-2 at home to the Detroit Tigers, while the Yankees were shut out by the White Sox 5-0 in Chicago.
Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on SportsTime Ohio
For the Yankees, the series in Cleveland will conclude a 10-game road trip leading into the All-Star break. The Yankees, mired in fourth place in the American League East, are 2-4 in the first six games of their trip. They lost two of three to the San Diego Padres and dropped two of three in Chicago.
The Indians, meanwhile, have been one of the majors' most refreshing success stories. They recently had a team-record 14-game winning streak, and Wednesday's 12-2 loss to Detroit was the Indians' first defeat at home since May 31 and snapped a 13-game winning streak at Progressive Field.
Winners of 16 of their last 19 games overall, the Indians are in first place in the AL Central, 6 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Tigers, and they've impressed Yankees manager Joe Girardi.
"They're playing extremely well, and I think it all starts with their starting pitching," Girardi said. "They've pitched extremely well. Their bullpen has done a nice job, and they have young players who are playing well. They are a complete club. They are not going to beat themselves. So it will be a tough series."
Indians manager Terry Francona says one of the unheralded areas of strength on his team is its base running. "We've been a very good base-running team, which is good because we worked on it a lot in spring training," Francona said. "We need to be a team that can score from second on a hit, and go from first to third on a hit."
The pitching matchup for the series opener will feature Cleveland's Trevor Bauer (7-2, 3.02 ERA) versus New York's Ivan Nova (5-5, 5.06). Bauer's last appearance, and last win, came in relief. In the Indians' 2-1 win over Toronto in 19 innings on July 1, Bauer was pressed into service as a reliever and pitched the last five innings, holding Toronto scoreless on two hits. Bauer has struggled in his career versus the Yankees, going 1-3 with a 4.78 ERA in five appearances.
Nova is looking for his first win since June 9. In four starts since, he is 0-2 with a 6.98 ERA while allowing opposing batters to hit .333 against him. In two career starts vs. Cleveland, Nova is 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA.
The Yankees are 0-3-1 in their last four series vs. Cleveland since the start of the 2014 season. New York was 2-5 against the Indians last year, the five losses being the Yankees' most in a season to Cleveland since 2000, when they were also 5-5.
