With the Indians rotation still in a bit of flux, a return to last year's form by Danny Salazar could help provide some stability. Salazar gets his chance to make a case for why he deserves to remain in Cleveland tonight against Minnesota as he makes his first major-league start since May 15.
In 10 starts with Columbus, Salazar is 3-6 with a 4.02 ERA but in his past four is 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA. During that span he also has 15 walks and 32 strikeouts. In a start last Thursday, Salazar went 5 2/3 innings and allowed no runs on three hits with five walks and five strikeouts.
"He has worked on building arm strength and throwing his fastball down through the zone. It's still not perfect but he's a lot closer to the pitcher we saw last year," said manager Terry Francona about Salazar.
In his eight starts with Cleveland this season, the right-hander was 1-4 with a 5.53 ERA. Two of those were against the Twins. In three career starts against Minnesota, Salazar is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA, allowing eight earned runs in 16 innings. To make room for Salazar, the Indians have optioned C.C. Lee back to Columbus.
The Tribe will be looking to even the series after losing 4-3 on Monday. Indians Live starts on SportsTime Ohio at 7:30 p.m.
Here are some other things to watch in tonight's game:
CABRERA WATCH: Asdrubal Cabrera is not in the lineup Tuesday night and remains day-to-day with a strained back. Mike Aviles will play shortstop which is his seventh game this year at short. Cabrera remains day to day.
ON TARGET: Carlos Santana's seven home runs at Target Field are tied for third most by a visiting player with Adam Dunn. Toronto's Jose Bautista has 11 and David Ortiz nine. Santana's 21 RBI are tied for sixth-most (Detroit's Miguel Cabrera leads with 33).
HOT START: Chris Dickerson went 1 for 3 on Monday and has a hit in seven of his eight games with an at-bat along with three RBI in his last three games. Dickerson also has two outfield assists as he caught Kurt Suzuki attempting to take second on a single in the fourth inning. As a team the Indians have 23 outfield assists which is sixth in the majors.
TWINS STARTER: Yohan Pino (1-2, 3.49) will be making his sixth start of the season after making his major-league debut on June 19 against the White Sox. He is 0-1 at home in three previous starts with a 3.38 ERA. This is the right-hander's first appearance against the Indians.
ON A ROLL: Kendrys Morales has an 11-game hitting streak, which is the third-longest of his career. His longest was 20 games from June 24-July 22 in 2009. Over the 11 games he is hitting .295 (13 for 44).
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Trevor Plouffe has 29 doubles, which are the most by a Twins primary third baseman since Corey Koskie had 29 in 2003.
TWINS VS. SALAZAR: Brian Dozier 5-8, HR, 2 RBI; Trevor Plouffe 1-8, HR, 2 RBI; Chris Colabello 2-6, HR, RBI; Kurt Suzuki 1-4; Oswaldo Arcia 2-4; Josh Willingham 0-2, RBI; Eduwardo Escobar 1-3; Sam Fuld 0-3.
