Written by Jonathan Knight

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A LONG TIME SINCE: The Indians haven’t swept four series in a single month since August of 1954, when they swept five, three of which were four-game series.

10 STRAIGHT: With 10 straight wins at Progressive Field, it’s the Indians’ longest home winning streak since they won 14 straight at home in August/September of 1995. It’s the 13th home winning streak of 10 games or more in Tribe history.

ALL-TIME TOTALS: The Indians’ all-time record against the Twins dropped to 360-344, while their lead over the Royals increased to 288-274.

TWIN CITY TROUBLES: Over the past four seasons, the Indians hold a record of 8-21 in Minnesota.

A SLIDE: The season-long losing streak of three games reached Sunday in Minnesota matched the Tribe’s longest losing streak since it dropped five in a row from Sept. 19-23 last year - ironically also all losses to the Royals and Twins.

OUTCLASSED: In their first five games against the White Sox and Twins, widely considered to be the two primary favorites to win the AL Central, the Indians went 1-4, were outscored 38-26, and posted an alarming ERA of 7.74.

DIVISIONAL ISSUES: With the first wave of divisional games now nearing its conclusion, the Indians hold a 6-6 record against Central Division opponents. Last year they were 34-38.

QUICK WORK: Only four of the Indians’ 22 nine-inning games have lasted longer than three hours.

HOT START: The 16 victories in April so far mark the most wins the Indians have collected in the first month of a season since winning 16 in 1999. They also won 16 in 1996 and 1988, but have never won 17 games in the month of April.

BALANCED ATTACK, PART 1: Though the Indians have the best team batting average in the American League, only one regular starter (Travis Hafner) is hitting above .300 for the season (Grady Sizemore hasn’t played in enough games to qualify as a regular starter yet).

BALANCED ATTACK, PART 2: Seven Indians have batted in 11 runs or more.

’07 PARALLELS: With many comparisons already being made between this year’s Indians and the 2007 team, it’s worth noting that in ’07 the Indians didn’t take over first place for good until Aug. 15. At the end of April, the 2007 Tribe was 14-8 and had a 1.5-game lead over the Twins and Tigers.

THE JOSH AND JUSTIN SHOW: Just as everyone expected (ha!), Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin have been utterly unstoppable in the first month of the season. Combined, they’re 9-0 with a 2.32 ERA.

TURNAROUND: After hitting only one home run in their previous six games, the Indians erupted for nine dingers in the three-game set with Kansas City. Even more interesting, they didn't hit one off Royals pitching through the entire four-game series in KC the previous week.

HOME COOKING: The Indians are now 10-2 at home on the season. Dating back to last year, they’ve won 17 of their last 21 at Progressive Field.

WINNING BIG: Of the Indians’ eight series, they’ve won four, lost three, and split one - the formula for a just-over-.500 record. The difference is that each of the four series they’ve won has been a three-game sweep and - aside from the two-game mini-sweep in Minnesota - they haven’t been swept themselves.

QUICK STARTS: The Indians scored in the first inning in each of the three games against the Royals, plating a total of eight runs in the first frame while allowing none. Not surprisingly, the Tribe battered Kansas City’s starting pitching for 30 hits and 19 earned runs in 12.2 innings in the series.

WE’VE GOT SPIRIT, HOW ’BOUT YOU?: In what promised to be a good case study for baseball’s struggling attendance trend, the Indians and Royals played two mid-week series in back-to-back weeks, one in Kansas City, one in Cleveland. Though both series were promoted as a battle for first place, four of the seven games drew less than 10,000 fans. While the Royals lost five of the seven games, they had the better turnout at the gate, averaging 10,520 per game in KC to 9,483 in Cleveland. For the year, the Indians are averaging 13,164 per home game.

DOMINATING: The Indians and Columbus Clippers are a combined 32-13 on the season - the best one-two, parent club/Triple-A punch in baseball.

PROGRESS REPORT: The Indians are averaging 5.4 runs per game and allowing 3.7. Their team batting average is .272 and team ERA is 3.56.

A YEAR AGO: After 24 games in 2010, the Indians stood at 10-14, third place in the AL Central, 5.5 games back of the first-place Twins.

 

MINNESOTA SERIES BY THE NUMBERS:

The Twins outscored the Indians, 14-6 - one of the Twins’ runs was unearned.

Overall Hitting

Cleveland 14 for 67 (.209), 5 walks

Minnesota 23 for 65 (.354), 8 walks

With Runners in Scoring Position

Cleveland 3 for 12 (.250), 12 left on base

Minnesota 8 for 23 (.348), 14 left on base

Extra-Base Hits

Cleveland 5 (1 HR)

Minnesota 6 (1 HR)

Overall Pitching

Cleveland 16 IP, 23 H, 8 BB, 8 SO, 13 ER, 7.31 ERA

Minnesota 18 IP, 14 H, 5 BB, 10 SO, 6 ER, 3.00 ERA

Staring Pitchers

Cleveland 0-1; 8 IP, 13 H, 6 BB, 2 SO, 8 ER, 9.00 ERA

Minnesota 2-0; 14 IP, 11 H, 11 BB, 6 SO, 4 ER, 2.57 ERA

Relief Pitchers

Cleveland 8 IP, 10 H, 2 BB, 6 SO, 5 ER, 5.63 ERA

Minnesota 4 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 SO, 2 ER, 4.50 ERA

 

KANSAS CITY SERIES BY THE NUMBERS:

The Indians outscored the Royals, 24-8 - two of the Indians’ runs were unearned.

Overall Hitting

Kansas City 22 for 101 (.218), 9 walks

Cleveland 34 for 101 (.337), 9 walks

With Runners in Scoring Position

Kansas City 4 for 24 (.167), 21 left on base

Cleveland 10 for 28 (.357), 17 left on base

Extra-Base Hits

Kansas City 12 (3 HR)

Cleveland 17 (9 HR)

Overall Pitching

Kansas City 24 IP, 34 H, 9 BB, 17 SO, 22 ER, 8.25 ERA

Cleveland 27 IP, 22 H, 9 BB, 18 SO, 8 ER, 2.67 ERA

Starting Pitchers

Kansas City 0-3; 12.2 IP, 30 H, 2 BB, 8 SO, 19 ER, 13.50 ERA

Cleveland 3-0, 19.2 IP, 15 H, 5 BB, 14 SO, 7 ER, 3.20 ERA

Relief Pitchers

Kansas City 11.1 IP, 4 H, 7 BB, 9 SO, 3 ER, 2.38 ERA

Cleveland 7.1 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 6 SO, 1 ER, 1.23 ERA

 

UP NEXT:

Detroit Tigers [12-13]

(Friday 7:05 p.m.; Saturday 6:05 p.m., Sunday, 1:05 p.m.)

Probable Starters:

Gomez (0-1, 7.36 ERA); White (0-0, 0.00 ERA); Masterson (5-0, 2.18 ERA)

Last year: Split series, 9-9

 

at Oakland Athletics [12-13]

(Tuesday 10:07 p.m.; Wednesday 10:07 p.m.; Thursday 3:37 p.m.)

Probable Starters:

Tomlin (4-0, 2.45 ERA); Carmona (2-3, 5.15 ERA); Gomez (0-1, 7.36 ERA)

Last year: Athletics won series, 6-3