Tomlin takes the mound at Progressive Field for the first time this season
The Cleveland Indians dropped Josh Tomlin's final six home starts a year ago before he missed the start of this season due to right shoulder surgery.
He'll be on the Progressive Field mound for the first time in 2015 on Tuesday night as the Indians start a two-game home series against power-hitting Khris Davis and the Milwaukee Brewers.
After missing nearly the entire 2013 season due to Tommy John surgery, Tomlin (1-1, 2.03 ERA) went 6-9 with a 4.76 ERA last year before undergoing shoulder surgery in April. He has been sharp in two outings since returning, particularly while yielding one run and two hits over seven innings to earn Thursday's 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees.
"It's fun to talk about him," manager Terry Francona said. "We've talked about, just in the short period he's been here, how much we're pulling for him."
Now Tomlin will finally pitch again in Cleveland, where he went 0-5 with a 6.02 ERA in eight starts since winning there May 6, 2014. The Indians (58-66) lost his last six home outings.
Tomlin is 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA in seven career home interleague starts, though he has never faced the Brewers. The only Milwaukee hitter he has faced is Adam Lind, who is 2 for 5 in this matchup.
He might not be too anxious to get a look at Davis, whose nine homers in August place him among baseball's leaders. Davis is 5 for 15 with four homers and eight RBIs in his last four games.
Milwaukee (53-72) dropped two of three in Washington to start this five-game trip, falling 9-5 on Sunday despite homers by Davis, Scooter Gennett and Jonathan Lucroy. Eight of the runs allowed by the Brewers came with two outs.
"We had opportunities to make pitches and get out of the innings but we were just unable to do that," manager Craig Counsell said. "They had a bunch of walks that extended innings."
Brewers starter Wily Peralta (4-7, 4.48) is 3-2 with a 5.40 ERA in five starts since returning July 28 from a strained left oblique. He has won consecutive outings for the first time, though he hardly looked sharp yielding six runs in five innings of Wednesday's 8-7 victory over Miami.
The right-hander has never faced Cleveland or any of its available hitters.
The Indians return home after a 5-6 trip capped by Monday's 2-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs in a makeup game.
Shortstop Francisco Lindor is hitting .405 with 13 runs scored in his last 19 games.
Indians star Jason Kipnis is tied with Detroit's Miguel Cabrera for baseball's best home average at .376, and his .400 average in interleague play is tied for third in the majors. Kipnis went 1 for 4 on Monday after he did not start the day before to rest.
These teams split two games at Miller Park from July 21-22. The Brewers have won 12 of 20 interleague meetings, including seven of nine in Cleveland.
