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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Francisco Lindor has not yet thought about it. He has just finished his fourth consecutive game of the all-star game on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.
He had the wit on Wednesday and Thursday and was resting a bit. Friday would arrive early enough to deal with the AL-Central Twins. When he arrives, he will not check the lock on the back door. He will put a shoulder to the door and push hard. It's a good thing.
The Indians caused this collision. This is the only way for them to become relevant again in the central AL.
On June 3, they took 11 1/2 match on the Twins. They are now 21-8 since their run of six consecutive wins. The twins went 16-15 over the same period. When they arrive at Progressive Field on Friday night to open a three-game series, the Indians will be 5 1/2 games behind.
"I'm going to enjoy the next two days," Lindor said. "Once the Twins are here, it will be a good series. … It's fun to play against them. I can not wait. "
The Indians will have an optional training on Thursday at 19 hours. Manager Terry Francona said his four star players, Lindor, Shane Bieber, Carlos Santana and Brad Hand, were allowed to jump and rest. Carlos Carrasco plans to talk to reporters about his diagnosis of leukemia during the training session. It is possible that Carrasco also organizes a session to the proofreader.
The twins will work at 17:30
Both teams will open with their three best starters available. The Indians will be joined by Mike Clevinger (2-2, 4.44) on Friday followed by Trevor Bauer (8-6, 3.61) and MVP All-Star Shane Bieber (8-3, 3.45). The Twins will start Kyle Gibson (8-4, 4.09) on Friday, followed by All-Stars Jake Odorizzi (10-4, 3.50) and Jose Berrios (8-5, 3.00). Odorizzi was on the list of casualties with blisters on his throwing hand.
"This series is very important," said Jorge Polanco, Minnesota's All-Star Judge. "We know how important it is to win games against the Indians. In these games, this will be the key to our hopes for the rest of the season. "
A 5.5 game advance is comfortable. For a moment, though, it seemed like the Twins would win the division by two.
"I'm not surprised that the Indians have reduced the gap," said Polanco, "we know their team is very competitive, they have won the division in the last three years and we knew they would continue to We just keep playing the kind of baseball we play. "
This is not a complete series. It's important, of course, but the Indians and the Twins will meet 10 more times after Sunday's game.
Despite everything, the tribe is under pressure to sweep or at least win the series. That's always the case when a team plays from behind.
"We are chasing them and we have to play well when we play them," said Hand. "We only played twice (two sets) this year. For how many games we played at once, it will be a very important test each time we play them. We have to play hard and try to win the series every time. "
Whit Merrifield, all-star of Kansas City, saw many Indians and Twins in the first period. This is how he handicaps the second half.
"The Indians are a good team," said Merrifield. "They are a little injured right now, if they can get healthy, they would be in a better situation.
"But they play well. They are 5 1/2 back and this is nothing with the whole second half to go. It will be a good fight between them and the Twins, but Minnesota is not going anywhere. They are too good. "
The Indians and the Twins shared six games. The Indians lost two out of three at Target Field from March 28th to 31st. The Indians took two out of three at Progressive Field on June 4th and 6th.
After Sunday, they will play four games in August and six in September.
Lindor strikes 0.455 (5-in-11) with three homers and four points produced against the Twins this year. Berrios is 2-0 with a silver medal of 0.66 against the tribe. He pulled out 16 shots in 13 2/3.
"There is no hate," Lindor said of the rivalry with the Twins. "We are a brotherhood, but at the end of the day, you love to beat your brother."
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