Indians Game Information for Sunday, July 15
CLEVELAND INDIANS (45-42, 2nd, -3.0 G) vs. TORONTO BLUE JAYS (44-44)
RHP Derek Lowe (8-6, 4.43) vs. RHP Carlos Villanueva (3-0, 3.05)
First Pitch: 1:07 p.m. (ET) at Rogers Centre
TV: WKYC Radio: WTAM, Indians Radio Network
Series Notes:
POWER SURGE: Cleveland went deep 3 times in yesterday’s defeat, as it marked just the 3rd time over the past 3 seasons for the Indians to hit 3-or-more home runs and lose (23-3 record in those games from 2010-12)…the Indians have slugged 21 home runs over their last 13 games beginning June 28, which is tied with New York-AL and Toronto for 2nd-most in the majors over that span behind Pittsburgh (24)…that works out to an average of 1.6 HR-per-game for the Tribe since June 28, after generating 0.8 HR-per-game from Opening Day through June 27.
WAITING FOR THE RIGHT ONE: Cleveland’s offense saw an average of 3.9 pitches-per-plate appearances in yesterday’s loss (172 pitches/44 PA), continuing a season-long trend for the Tribe…the Indians have averaged 3.87 pitches-per-PA overall this season, which is the 6th-best figure in the A.L. and 9th-best in the majors…Cleveland also leads the majors with 319 walks and ranks 4th with a .334 team on-base pct. behind Texas (.341), St. Louis (.340) and New York-AL (.336).
GLOVE WILL KEEP US ALIVE: Cleveland’s defense has been charged with just 5 errors over the club’s last 18 games, playing error-free baseball in 6 of the last 7 and all but 4 of those 18 contests overall; Cleveland’s .986 team fielding % (46 E/3309 TC) is 3rd-best in the A.L. and 4th in the majors behind Seattle (.989), Chicago-AL (.989) and Cincinnati (.986).
BE LIKE MIKE: MICHAEL BRANTLEY has gone 6-for-8 with a double, HR and 2 RBI in this series…additionally, he has hit safely in 5 straight at-bats against left-handed pitching to raise his season average vs. LHP to .303 (33-109), which is now higher than his season average vs. RHP (.297)…Brantley is the first strictly left-handed Indians batter with a hit in 5+ consecutive AB vs. LHP since teammate SHIN-SOO CHOO from July 26-27, 2009 and one of just 7 LH-batters in the majors to pull the trick this season.
HITS IN 5+ STRAIGHT AT-BATS AS LEFTY VS. LEFTY, 2012
Brett Gardner, NYY (5) April 10-17
David Ortiz, BOS (6) April 13-18
Norichika Aoki, MIL (5) May 17-18
Joey Votto, CIN (6) May 25-27
Joe Mauer, MIN (5) June 13-25
David Murphy, TEX (5) June 12-July 4
Michael Brantley, CLE (5) July 13-14
