The Tampa Bay Rays play the Cleveland Indians for the first time this season. The two teams meet on August 31, 2018 at Cleveland’s Progressive Field in the first game of a three game set.
The Rays enter this series coming off a 1-1 split with the Atlanta Braves. Their loss in Game 1 against the Braves snapped an eight game winning streak for them. They are now 9-1 in their last 10 games heading to this series. Despite their current streak, the Rays are still 20.5 games off behind American League East leaders Boston Red Sox and are also 8.5 games off the second wild card slot.
Tyler Glasnow gets the start for the Tampa Bay Rays. Since getting traded to the Rays, the 25 year old from Newhall, California has started five games for his new team. He has a record of 1-3 this season, including 0-1 as a member of the Rays, with an ERA of 4.18 and a WHIP of 1.31. According to Statcast, Glasnow’s maximum velocity is 99.4 mph.
The former Top-10 pitching prospect pitched five innings in his last outing, giving up three earned runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts. He did not factor in the decision as Tampa Bay beat Kansas City 4-3 last Thursday. Glasnow has allowed 3.5BB/9 in 23.2 innings pitched with Tampa Bay. He also has a total of 32 strikeouts as a member of the Rays. He is aiming to get his first win with his new team.
Entering Thursday’s games, CJ Cron leads Tampa Bay with 25 home runs and 60 RBIs on the season.The 28 year old Utah product has batted 15-41 at the plate or a .366 batting average with three home runs in his previous 11 games. Against the Indians’ starter on Friday, Corey Kluber, Cron is 3-5 lifetime with two doubles.
The Cleveland Indians are comfortably ahead in the American League Central division with a 13 game lead over the second placed Minnesota Twins. In fact, the Indians are the only team in their division with a winning record so they can smell that division title as early as now. Cleveland has won two of their last three games but before that, they lost four games in a row.
As we mentioned earlier, it will be 32 year old Corey Kluber who is going to open on top of the mound on Friday for the Indians. The right hander from Stetson has started a total of 27 games this season. Kluber is an outstanding 16-7 this season with an ERA of 2.91 and a WHIP of 0.98.
Kluber is coming off his first loss in his last five decisions. He pitched 5.1 innings during the Indians’ 1-7 loss to the Royals last Saturday. Kluber allowed five earned runs on nine hits and two walks with six strikeouts during that surprisingly poor effort against the struggling Royals. Despite that, he is one of the leaders in the American league,ranking 1st in the league in innings pitched (179.2), 2nd in wins (16), 6th in ERA and 3rd in WHIP.
At home, the Tribe’s ace has been even better. Kluber is 8-3 with an ERA of 2.24 in 14 games started at Progressive Field this season. In 96.1 innings pitched at home, Kluber has given up just 30 runs on 74 hits and 12 walks while fanning 95 batters.
Heading to Thursday’s games, the Indians have won 14 out of their last 18 meetings with the Rays and are 5-2 against Tampa Bay in their last seven meetings at home. Home may actually be the key here as the Indians have won 75 out of their last 109 home games and 50 out of their last 69 home games against teams with a losing record.
Meanwhile, the Rays have lost 14 out of their last 20 road games against teams with winning records and are just 2-6 in their last eight games played on a Friday. It doesn’t also help Tampa Bay that Cleveland has lost just once in its last five series openers.
Tampa Bay is the hotter team here and Kluber is coming off a loss. But the Indians are still the better team all season long. Their Ace should bounce back with a strong performance at home while their offense is going to test Glasnow. We’re picking the Cleveland Indians to beat the Tampa Bay Rays on 8/31/18.
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