Toronto @ Cleveland preview
Progressive Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 29, 2010 ) Toronto 4, Cleveland 5
Aaron Laffey has had trouble putting together good stretches this season.
The way the Cleveland Indians' bullpen has performed lately, he may only need five or six good innings Wednesday night.
Laffey looks for his first victory of the season as the red-hot Indians resume their four-game series with the visiting Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field.
Cleveland opened the series with a 2-1 victory and then extended its winning streak to three games by holding on for a 5-4 win on Wednesday.
The Indians' relief corps has been a major component in the winning streak, which comes on the heels of a seven-game losing skid. Cleveland's bullpen has thrown seven straight scoreless innings, six of those coming in consecutive wins over the suddenly struggling Blue Jays.
Indians closer Kerry Wood has been the best of the bunch, which has to provide some relief to Cleveland fans who have had to endure a topsy-turvy season from the 1998 National League Rookie of the Year. Wood has recorded saves in each win during the streak, allowing just one hit while striking out six in three solid innings.
Wood had converted just five of his first eight save chances this season, and his current ERA of 6.62 is the lowest it's been since May 17.
The Indians hope to get a similar resurgence from Laffey (0-2), who has had a dismal season to date. The 25-year-old left-hander will be making just his second start of the season after spending the majority of the season in the bullpen. His 6.37 ERA is a cause of concern, as is his 16/16 strikeout-to-walk ratio, one of the worst in the majors.
Laffey was rocked his last time out, allowing five runs on five hits over just four innings as the Indians dropped a 10-3 decision to the Cincinnati Reds. He has made just one other start against Toronto in his career, tossing seven shutout innings in a 10-0 drubbing of the Jays on May 10, 2008.
One area Laffey has excelled in this season has been keeping the ball in the park - he has surrendered just one home run in 29 2/3 innings. But that track record will be put to the test against a Blue Jays team that leads the majors in home runs, and will likely come into today's game with a little extra fire following two disappointing losses to open the series.
Tuesday's defeat was Toronto's seventh in the last nine games, dropping the Jays even closer to the dreaded .500 mark. In a division where the top two teams are humming along at a .600 clip, the recent slide has further torpedoed their chances of hanging with the top teams in the American League East.
Jesse Litsch (0-2) gets the call for Toronto in his fourth start since returning from ligament replacement surgery. Litsch has been mostly awful in his return to major league action, failing to reach the fifth inning in two of his three outings. He was tagged for six runs over four innings his last time out as Toronto was routed 9-0 in Philadelphia.