CHICAGO — The Cleveland Indians may not boast as many victories as their fellow American League divisional leaders, but that doesn’t mean their confidence as they head for the postseason is lacking.
The Indians have 88 victories heading into Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. Although they are well off the pace for regular-season victories as others in their position after seeing their three-game winning streak snapped with a 5-4 loss on Tuesday, Cleveland may be well-suited for a lengthy postseason run just the same.
“Our record, we might not have as many wins as what we had in previous years,” Indians general manager Mike Chernoff said, according the team’s official website. “But, it does feel like over the past several weeks, we’ve seen a lot of things come together in ways that we hadn’t seen for the majority of the season. So, we do feel like we’re sort of on an upward trajectory heading into the postseason.”
After surrendering a ninth-inning lead in Tuesday’s loss, the Indians will attempt to bounce back Wednesday behind Shane Bieber (10-5, 4.80 ERA. Bieber has dropped back-to-back decisions and is coming off a rough outing against the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 21, when he surrendered six runs and eight hits over just 4 2/3 innings while pitching in a relief effort.
Bieber was scheduled to return to the starting rotation on Thursday against the Kansas City Royals but was bumped up a day to give Josh Tomlin another day of rest after he was needed in a relief appearance on Sunday.
Bieber is 0-0 in one career start against the White Sox after he threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out eight earlier this season.
The White Sox ended their three-game losing streak on Tuesday when Daniel Palka delivered a one-out, two run single that provided Chicago with a dramatic victory. After struggling to score runs, Chicago came up with three runs in the bottom of the ninth to bring an end to Cleveland’s winning streak.
Yet as much excitement as victories like Tuesday’s generates, the White Sox continue to build for the future. On Tuesday, right fielder Avisail Garcia told reporters that he put off knee surgery for most of the season and will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee next week.
Garcia said that the procedure was “nothing major,” according to the Chicago Tribune. Manager Rick Renteria said the surgery just involved “cleaning (the knee) up” and that the surgery was not being done to make any major repairs.
Garcia, who hit his career-best 19th home run in Tuesday’s victory, has been on the disabled list twice this season — both times for a strained knee.
“Early in the season, opening day, I (felt) something in my knee,” Garcia said, according to the Tribune. “I’ve been feeling something, something, something.”
Jace Fry (2-2, 4.32) will make his first major league start for the White Sox on Wednesday. In 57 games this season, Fry has pitched 50 innings and will get his chance to demonstrate what he can do in a starting role. In 11 career relief appearances against the Indians, Fry is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA.
