The St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians are playing an interleague series this week for three games and the matchups from Progressive Field start on Tuesday and go through Thursday with Lance Lynn and Carlos Carrasco in the first pitching duel and the game starts at 6:10 pm ET as the NL central leaders take on their AL counterparts.
The pitching matchups are good for this series with Lynn and Carrasco, while John Lackey and Corey Kluber pitch against each other on Wednesday. The series finale has two young stars with Michael Wacha and Trevor Bauer and Wacha comes in pitching very well since coming back to the rotation. Adam Wainwright is out for the season and Wacha is now 5-0 on the year, while Kluber comes in at 0-5 after stealing the Cy Young from Felix Hernandez last season.
Lynn comes in with one win on the season and Carrasco has four, while Lackey comes in with a 2-1 record and a 3.20 ERA this season. Jason Kipnis has been hitting the ball well since moving into the top spot in the lineup and the Indians hope that keeps moving. The team was a sleeper pick by many to make the playoffs and now the Indians are trying to pull out of the bottom part of the central standings as the season pushes into its second month.
The two teams have not played since 2012 and the Indians currently have a lead in the all-time matchups with a 14-6 record. The Cardinals come into the game as one of the best teams in the league and they have the most wins in the majors. The team is the central team to beat in the NL once again and they are looking to take down their counterparts in the AL. The Indians have not played well overall and now they have to deal with the Cardinals.
The Cardinals are getting Matt Carpenter back into the lineup after he was out for the weekend series against the Pirates. That should be a big boost for the team, as he is hitting over .330 this season with five home runs. Wainwright is out with an Achilles injury and the Indians come in looking to try and take advantage of the Cards, who still have a stacked rotation. The Indians are going to be hitting the road in Texas and that will start on Friday.
The Indians have been scoring more, as they are averaging over six runs per game in the month of May after averaging just three and a half per game in April. The Cardinals have 22 wins this season and they are looking to get things going after dropping two to the Pirates in a three game series and winning two of three against the Cubs.
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