Minnesota Twins @ Cleveland Indians series preview (May 3-5)

Minnesota Twins (12-12) @ Cleveland Indians (12-13)

Probable Pitching Match-ups:

Game 1, Friday at 7:00 PM: (Pedro Hernandez vs Justin Masterson)

Game 2, Saturday at 1:00 PM: (Kevin Correia vs Scott Kazmir)

Game 3, Sunday at 1:00 PM: (Mike Pelfrey vs Corey Kluber)

How they got here:

Indians pitcher Scott Kazmir

The Tribe  are playing their best baseball of the young season.  The Indians have won four in a row, averaging 9.8 runs per game during the span. An injury to Nick Swisher and a DL-stint for Michael Bourn hasn't seemed to slow down the Tribe offense at all.  Utility-man Ryan Raburn has stepped up and led the way during the streak, hitting 11-13 in the last three games with 4 HRs and 9 RBIs.  

Twins pitcher Kevin Correia

Minnesota came into the season without many accolades from national writers and pundits.  The Twins have come out to a decent start though, playing .500 ball throughout the month of April.  The Twins have won 3 of their last 5, including their most recent 6-2 victory over Anibal Sanchez and the Detroit Tigers.  The Twins trail Detroit by 2.5 games in the Central.

Early season rankings: (ML-ranking)

Runs Scored: 

Cleveland 126 (9th) 

Minnesota 98 (27th)

Runs Allowed:

Cleveland 109 (10th) 

Minnesota 101 (6th)

Batting Average:

Cleveland .270 (5th)

Minnesota .241 (23rd)

Team ERA:

Cleveland 4.09

Minnesota 3.80

Fun Stat: The Indians actually have the longest current winning streak in baseball at four games.  They are also trying to win their fifth straight for the first time in the last two years.

Impact players:

Cleveland: Asdrubal Cabrera - I decided not to choose Raburn, but rather, I went with a player who

has quietly been heating up. Cabrera has come on as of late after a slow start at the beginning of the season. Cabrera is currently riding a 10-game hitting streak though and is batting 14-for-37 during (.378).  We'll see if Asdrubal can continue to help pace the offense.

Minnesota: Twins pitching staff, specifically Kevin Correia - The Twins are 6th in the majors in runs allowed, giving up only 4.1 runs per contest.  Correia has been the ace of the staff and will take the bump for Minnesota on Saturday.  He's led the team with a 2.23 ERA and a record of 3-1.  

Keys for the series:

1. Stay hot offensively:  Averaging nearly 10 runs per game during the four-game winning streak, the tribe have gotten offense from a variety of sources, but can they keep it up? Consistency has been elusive for the team so far during the season, so let's see if they can continue to give their starting pitchers more confidence by getting out to an early lead against the Twins this weekend. This is a case where an unstoppable force is meeting an immovable object. The Tribe offense is hot but the Twins pitching is pretty solid as well. The Indians have proven that they can hit talented pitchers before (See Cliff Lee, David Price and R.A. Dickey this season), but we'll see if this smoldering hot offense can stay hot against one of the most surprisingly good pitching staffs in the majors so far this season.  Correia and Hernandez each have sub-2.50 ERAs while Pelfrey is off to a slower start.  

2. Consistent pitching:  During the win streak, the Indians have had four straight quality outings from there starters. This is quite the contrast from earlier in the season when it seemed like Justin Masterson was the only consistent threat in the starting rotation. The Indians have only allowed 5 runs over the past 4 games, and they will need to continue to get good starts in order to continue the winning streak.

3. Get healthy: It would be a big key to get a healthy Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn back into the

lineup this weekend! Swisher expects to be in the lineup on Friday, according to Nick Camino of WTAM 1100.  As for Bourn, he hasn't taken live batting practice yet and there is still no timetable for his rehab assignment. Stay tuned to our twitter @teepeetalk for the latest updates on their situations and for the team as a whole!

Oh, one last thing... here are a few fun facts: 

1. From Elias Sports Bureau: Ryan Raburn, who was 4-for-5 on Wednesday night, is the fourth major-league player in the last 75 years to have at least 11 hits and four home runs in a three-game span. The others were Duke Snider (1955 Dodgers), Kirby Puckett (1987 Twins) and Shawn Green (2002 Dodgers). Raburn is also the first major-league player since Kevin Kouzmanoff in August 2009 to collect 11 hits in a span of 12 at-bats.

2. From Elias: The Indians have won their last four games, outscoring opponents by 34 runs over that stretch (39-5). Cleveland last won four straight games by such a large combined margin in August 1948 (41-7, including a 26-3 win over the St. Louis Browns) on their way to winning the World Series.

3. From ESPN: Justin Masterson has thrown his sinker 71.8 percent of the time, highest among starters in the league this season. As a team, the Twins have hit .063 in at-bats ending in a sinker, the worst average in the league.