Cleveland Indians vs. Detroit Tigers AL Central Series Preview

Cleveland enters this series with a record of 41-33 and is still just 2.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. The Indians are fortunate that the Chicago White Sox are also slumping at this time.

Detroit has actually been playing well of late, but they are still just 34-44 on the season. The Tigers are not going to be a playoff team, and they will likely be sellers at the Trade Deadline.

Here are the projected pitching matchups for this three-game series:

• Monday: Matt Manning (DET) vs. Eli Morgan (CLE)
• Tuesday: Jose Urena (DET) vs. J.C. Mejia (CLE)
• Wednesday: Wily Peralta (DET) vs. Cal Quantrill (CLE)

Pitching Hurting Indians

Injuries have really hurt the Indians this season, especially in terms of the starting rotation. Both Aaron Civale and Shane Bieber are out of the rotation due to injury, and that leaves two massive holes.

Eli Morgan will start on Monday night, and he is 0-2 with an ERA over 10.00. Cleveland has already seen the team ERA balloon over the past two weeks, and Cleveland will have to find a way to get some outs.

Cleveland is also hitting just .226 as a team, and the offense needs to step up and carry this team while the pitching staff figures things out. Eddie Rosario is hitting .353 on the year against Detroit, and the Indians could use another big series from him.

Tigers Finding Some Offense

Detroit just had an impressive weekend against the Houston Astros, and they have now won five of their last seven games. This Tigers lineup is scoring runs all of a sudden, and that could be a problem for the pitching staff in Cleveland.

The Indians are still in the bottom part of the league in nearly every offensive category, but they have been swinging hot bats of late. Jonathan Schoop leads the Tigers with 15 home runs and 41 RBIs, and the Indians have to find a way to get him out.

This pitching staff has struggled all season long, but it just held the mighty Houston Astros to just five runs over the last three games of that series. Detroit does have some of its top pitchers lined up to start in this series.

Tribe Needs to Bounce Back

This has not been a great month of June for the Indians, but this series does provide a chance to end things on a positive note. Even though the Tigers are playing well, there are still some major flaws on this Detroit roster.

Cleveland needs to win two out of three games this week at home, and that could get the Indians back on track. The Indians are catching Detroit at a bad time, but they should still be good enough to win this series.