Washington @ Cleveland preview
Progressive Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 11, 2010 ) Washington 2, Cleveland 7
Winning three games in a row isn't reason to start planning a parade, but the Cleveland Indians aren't about to be picky.
The Indians take their modest stretch into Saturday's game with the Washington Nationals, who had their three-game winning streak ended with a 7-2 loss in Friday night's series opener.
Cleveland is riding some momentum for one of the few times this season. After losing the first two games of a series to the Boston Red Sox, the Indians rolled to an 11-0 win on Wednesday before pulling off its most exciting victory of the season on Thursday.
The Indians fell behind, 5-0, against Jon Lester, but rallied to go ahead. Kerry Wood couldn't hold the lead in the ninth, but Russell Branyan's two-run single with two outs off Daniel Bard gave the Indians an 8-7 win.
Austin Kearns kept the Indians rolling Friday by hitting two homers and driving in four runs against his former team. Travis Hafner added a solo home run and Jake Westbrook held down the Nationals offense that scored 16 runs in sweeping three games from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Fausto Carmona will try to keep the good times rolling for the Indians, but he'll have to break a four-game losing streak and a stretch of five starts in a row without a win. The big right-hander hasn't won since May 12 when he threw five shutout innings against Kansas City.
Carmona hasn't been terrible in his winless stretch. He pitched perhaps his best game of the season in Detroit on June 2 when he allowed three runs in eight innings, but that was the night of Armando Galarraga's near-perfect game - and all Carmona ended up with was a loss.
Carmona lost a 4-1 decision to Boston in his last start when he gave up three runs in six innings.
Nationals right-hander J.D. Martin will have a homecoming of sorts when he takes the mound.
Cleveland selected him with the 35th overall pick in the 2001 draft. Martin was in the Indians organization until 2008, but never made it to Cleveland. He had Tommy John surgery in 2005 and signed with Washington.
Martin made it to the big leagues last season, going 5-4 with a 4.44 ERA in 15 starts with the Nationals. He began this season at Triple-A Syracuse and was recalled on May 29. Martin lost his first start against the San Diego Padres and got a no-decision against the Houston Astros on June 3.