Indians vs Royals preview

So this is going to be the series that the Indians get back on track and back into contention in the AL Central. Hopefully. The Indians need at least to win the series to get some confidence back. Like always, I am optimistic about the thought of a sweep. It could easily happen, the bats just need to wake up a little bit more. I know the series is on the road, but it's the royals, it shouldn't matter that much.

Cliff vs Meche: Meche is 3-7 with a 5.35 ERA. Cliff is 7-1 with a 1.5 ERA. Should be a no brainer, right? However, Meche dominated in his last start against the Indians going 7 innings of shutout ball in route to a 2-0 Royals win. But also, in his other start against the Indians at Kaufman stadium, he only went 3.1 innings and gave up 8 runs in route to a 15-1 Royals loss. Cliff played the role of stopper in his last start and he'll need to do it again.

Prediction: 5-2 Indians win.

Sabathia vs Kyle Davies: Davies will be making his first start of the year. This former Braves starter has a 17-28 record and a 6.24 ERA in 63 games, 56 starts. This should be an easy win, but the Indains sometimes struggle in facing a starter that they havent seen this year. Altough, Davies went 0-3 last year in 3 starts against the Indians. CC has been pitching like CC as of late and I see no reason for his recent success to decline. After a couple hard luck losses where he's only given up 3 runs in the last 2 games but got the losses due to the Indians poor run production, CC is poised to get the win.

Prediction: 7-1 Indians win.

Byrd vs Bannister: This is the most interesting game of the series. Both pitcher have been pitching decent of late, but not overly dominant or fantastic. This game is pretty much a tossup and could go either way. Byrd is only 2-4 with a 4.1 ERA and has lossed his last 2 starts. Floyd's son is 4-6 with a 4.93 ERA and has lost his last 3 starts. Something has to give here. This is probably not going to be a pitchers duel and the Indians offense should come to life.

Prediction: 9-7 Indians win.