Boston @ Cleveland preview
Progressive Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 7, 2010 ) Boston 4, Cleveland 1
The Cleveland Indians haven’t enjoyed much of a home-field advantage this season.
Entering the second of a four-game set on Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox, the Indians have managed just eight wins at Progressive Field, tying them with the Milwaukee Brewers for the fewest home wins in the major leagues.
The struggles continued Monday night as Cleveland dropped a 4-1 decision to the Red Sox, failing to score until Austin Kearns led off the ninth inning with a solo home run.
Not exactly the way to kick off a 10-game homestand for a club which already owns the second-worst record in baseball at 21-35.
Perhaps the player most happy to see Progressive Field is left-hander David Huff, who will make his 11th start of the season on Tuesday – but only his fourth at home.
It’s been a bumpy road this season for Huff - in more ways than one. His 2-6 record notwithstanding, Huff was involved in one of the scarier moments of the season when he took a line drive off the skull in a game against the New York Yankees on May 29.
Remarkably, he made his next start five days later against the Detroit Tigers but lasted just three innings, allowing five runs on six hits.
Huff said his rocky outing had nothing to do with nearly getting beheaded, and he’ll get a chance to prove that against the surging Red Sox, who have won 15 of their last 20 games to move within four games of the front-running Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.
Both of Huff’s wins have come at home, including a start against the Cincinnati Reds on May 23, when he allowed three runs on six hits in six innings.
Tim Wakefield will oppose Huff on Tuesday, looking to extend a string that has seen Boston’s starters pitch at least six innings in nine consecutive outings.
Wakefield (1-4), who has bounced back and forth between the bullpen and starting rotation, has been rocked in his last two outings to the tune of 15 runs and 20 hits allowed in 9 2/3 innings.
The 43-year-old knuckleballer is 11-8 with a 4.23 ERA in 27 lifetime appearances – 22 starts – against Cleveland. He beat the Indians twice in the first five weeks of the 2009 season, surrendering just two runs on five hits in 13 innings.
Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez had a pair of hits Monday in his first game in Cleveland since the Indians traded him to Boston at last year’s trade deadline.
It gave Martinez 11 multi-hit games in his last 16 contests, a span in which he is 27-for-58 (.466). Marco Scutaro collected a career-high three doubles in Monday’s win.
Kearns continues to swing a hot bat for Cleveland. He has strung together four consecutive multi-hit games during which he is batting .588 (10-for-17).