Tonight at 8:10 p.m. ET, the Cleveland Indians (77-68) continue their pursuit of a wildcard spot when they battle their division rival Chicago White Sox (58-87) in the first of a four game set at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. The game can be live streamed here. Indians fans can listen to the game by tuning their dials to WTAM 1100 or WMMS 100.7, while White Sox fans can access the action at WSCR 670.
The Indians will send Corey Kluber (8-5, 3.54 ERA) to the mound while the White Sox will counter with John Danks (4-12, 4.45 ERA).
The Indians need Kluber to be sharp as the team has just dropped back-to-back losses at the hands of the Kansas City Royals but still have a postseason berth possibility in front of them as Cleveland is just 1.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the second wildcard spot in the American League. The Indians will have to jump over the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees (who play each other tonight) then the Rays in order to reach October playoff baseball, and look to beat up on the AL Central bottom dwelling White Sox in order to do so.
The White Sox, meanwhile, sit in last place and are looking to play the role of spoiler against their division foes tonight.
The Indians have won 11 of 13 games against the White Sox and five of six in Chicago this year, so if the team wants to turn it around and jump up in the tight wildcard standings, this will be a good series to do so.
Klubler was sidelined for a month because of a sprain to his middle finger, but tonight will be the third-year player's second start since returning from the disabled list. Kluber looked strong against the New York Mets in his first start back from injury last week, giving up just two runs on five hits in five innings pitched, though he only lasted 64 pitches as he continues to try and get back to in-game shape.
"He looked pretty much like he hadn't skipped a beat," manager Terry Francona said per MLB.com following his last outing. "For a layoff like that, that was outstanding."
Danks, meanwhile, has been shaky in his last two starts. He gave up 11 hits and five runs to Boston in his start on Aug. 31 and four runs and seven hits to Baltimore Friday.
Chicago has had a rough go of it lately offensively, but White Sox hitting coach Jeff Manto had some good things to say about his offense despite the team ranking last in the league in runs.
"I think we did as good of a job as we possibly could," Manto said. "We came with a lot of energy and a positive attitude. And guess what? We fell a little short, but there was a lot to build on and a lot of excitement ahead of us."
The Indians, despite being in the thick of a playoff race, have had low attendance as of late and outfielder Michael Bourn said he hopes the team gets more support from the Cleveland faithful when they head back from this road trip.
"We would like to be supported a little bit more, if we could," said Bourn to ESPN. "We're in the hunt for the second wild card. It's been a long time since there's been a team in the wild-card race here."
Bourn is hitting just .154 over his last 10 games with 13 strikeouts.
Nick Swisher wasn't in the lineup for the Indians Wednesday, but he'll return Thursday.
Tonight's battle will be the first of a four game set and a golden opportunity for the Indians to pick up some much needed victories as Cleveland looks to further its quest to notch just its second postseason trip in 12 years by beating up on the last place White Sox.
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