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Mariners start road trip in Cleveland

Jun 9, 2015 - 2:20 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Seattle Mariners kick off an eight-game road trip on Tuesday night when they play the first of three games against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.

The Mariners just finished a dreadful 2-9 homestand that featured a string of tough opposing pitchers. They are coming off Sunday's 3-1 setback to Chris Archer and the Tampa Bay Rays. Archer fanned 11 Seattle hitters in that one, as he became the only pitcher in baseball's modern era (since 1900) with 10 or more K's and zero walks in three consecutive starts.

"A lot of people don't realize this but when you face a string of tough strikeout pitchers, it can kind of put you in a funk a little bit," manager Lloyd McClendon said prior to Monday's off day. "It may take them a little while to come out of and I think that's what's happened to us."

Cleveland continues to sit on the win-loss seesaw and entered Tuesday two games below .500. The Indians dropped two of three at home to Baltimore over the weekend, including a 7-3 setback in Sunday's rubber match.

With a team off day Monday, outfielder Michael Brantley was given Sunday off to rest his back. He is expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday, although it could be as the designated hitter. Also of note for Tuesday's opener, Tribe second baseman Jason Kipnis needs a hit to tie Brantley's Progressive Field record hitting streak at 19 games.

Corey Kluber gets the starting assignment for Cleveland on Tuesday. The right- hander worked eight innings at Kansas City on Wednesday but wound up with his first loss since May 7 as he was charged with four runs on nine hits.

Despite that bump in the road, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner still owns a 2.03 ERA over his past five starts (40 IP) and has held opposing hitters to a .215 average in that span. Also in that stretch, he has notched 59 strikeouts against only three walks while averaging eight innings per outing.

Kluber faced these same Mariners in his previous start on May 28. He got the win in that one after striking out 13 over seven innings and allowing three runs.

Starting opposite Kluber for Seattle will be Roenis Elias, who has been quite steady in his own right. The southpaw out of Cuba has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 15 of his last 18 starts dating back to July 2014. But like Kluber, Elias is also coming off a loss despite lasting eight innings in his last start. The 25-year-old gave up two runs on five hits against Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Prior to that outing, Elias faced Cleveland on May 30 and took the loss as he gave up four runs on five hits and four walks over 5 1/3 frames. He has received an average of just over two runs per start across eight outings since being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma in late-April to replace Hisashi Iwakuma in Seattle's rotation.

Cleveland took three of four from the M's when these teams met up at Safeco Field to wrap up the month of May.