Field Level Media
20 Sep 2021, 08:10 GMT+10
The Cleveland Indians look to keep their offense clicking on all cylinders Monday when they play a doubleheader against the visiting Kansas City Royals.
The Indians (73-74) reached double digits in runs for the third time in four games in Sunday's 11-1 romp over the New York Yankees.
The Royals (67-82), in turn, have been rather generous of late. They surrendered 33 runs en route to losing four of their last five games.
Cleveland's Jose Ramirez highlighted his four-hit performance on Sunday by homering for the second time in as many days. He is 10-for-17 with seven RBIs and 10 runs scored during his five-game hitting streak.
"He's such a good hitter," Indians manager DeMarlo Hale said of Ramirez. "There's a consistency to him. He will have ups and downs but he's a big threat in the middle of the lineup."
For all of his success, Ramirez is batting just .182 (8-for-44) with 15 strikeouts in the season series against Kansas City.
Then again, Cleveland hasn't been slowed by that as it has won 11 of the 12 games this season against its American League Central rival.
Indians right-hander Triston McKenzie (5-6, 4.28 ERA) will look to keep that trend going on Monday when he gets the start for the opening game of the doubleheader.
McKenzie, 24, improved to 4-1 in his last five starts on Tuesday after allowing one run on three hits in six innings of a 3-1 victory at the Minnesota Twins.
Kansas City will counter with right-hander Brady Singer (4-10, 4.85), who is expected to be activated from the COVID-19 injured list.
Singer, 25, fell to 1-6 in his last seven decisions on Sept. 11 after permitting six runs and five homers in 4 2/3 innings of a 9-2 loss to the Twins.
Singer, however, has kept Cleveland in the park in all three of his career meetings. He owns a 1-0 record with a 2.41 ERA in those outings.
Singer may very well see Harold Ramirez, who was in the midst of a career-high four-RBI performance on Sunday before running into the right-field wall while chasing a home run ball by Gio Urshela.
"He was feeling much better after the game," Hale said of Harold Ramirez. "He said he could throw, but he didn't know if he could turn it loose. He hit that wall hard."
The teams did not announce their respective starters for the nightcap.
Nicky Lopez had an RBI single on Sunday to extend his career-best on-base streak to 28 games. He is batting just .216 (8-for-37, seven strikeouts) in the season series versus the Indians.
Although Kansas City has struggled against Cleveland, manager Mike Matheny said he has been encouraged by his team's play against some of the better clubs in the league.
"When we're able to beat some really good teams, it should be very affirming to this group that the talent is not an issue. It's our consistency," Matheny said. "Consistency I think a lot of times comes with experience."
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