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Indians-Twins Preview

Jun 3, 2009 - 5:16 AM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Writer

Cleveland (22-31) at Minnesota (25-27), 8:10 p.m. EDT

Cliff Lee didn't look like the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner in his first two starts of the season. Though he's rebounded, the Cleveland Indians don't have much to show for it.

The Indians look to snap out of their offensive funk with their ace on the mound as they continue a three-game road series against hot-hitting Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

Lee (2-6, 3.16 ERA) gave up seven runs on opening day and another four while losing his second outing. Since then, he's posted a 2.11 ERA during a streak of nine consecutive quality starts, a stretch reminiscent of last year when he led the AL with 22 wins and a 2.54 ERA.

As reliable as Lee has been lately, however, Cleveland's offense has been just the opposite. The Indians (22-32) have struggled at the plate with the left-hander on the mound, and he is at the bottom of the AL with a run support average of 3.04.

Lee lasted six innings in a 3-1 defeat Friday to the New York Yankees. It was the seventh time in 11 starts the Indians have scored one or no runs behind him, and they've scored seven runs in his six losses.

"It's pretty obvious that I haven't gotten much run support," Lee told the Indians' official Web site. "But I have no control over that, so I'm not putting much thought into that. My thoughts are on what I need to do to keep (the other team) from scoring."

That could be harder than usual against the Twins (26-27) based on the way Mauer's hitting. The Minnesota native went 3 for 3 with a home run, three RBIs and a walk to lead the Twins to a 4-3 win in the series opener Tuesday, lifting his average to .431.

"Amazing," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I don't remember too many guys being on the ball as long as he's been on the ball recently."

Mauer has 12 homers, 35 RBIs and 28 runs scored in 29 games after missing most of the first month of the season recovering from offseason kidney surgery. He had nine homers in 146 games last year and is already just one shy of his career high, set in 140 games in 2006.

"I don't know. I'm not really changing anything, my approach or anything," Mauer said. "I just try to hit the ball hard somewhere and they're starting to fly over the fence."

Mauer is 7 for 20 (.350) with two doubles in his career against Lee, who's 7-3 with a 3.78 ERA in 16 games against the Twins. Lee was 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA in four appearances against Minnesota in 2008.

The Twins will hand the ball to Anthony Swarzak (1-1, 2.08), also a victim of a lack of run support in his last outing. After winning his major league debut with seven shutout innings against Milwaukee on May 23, the right-hander gave up three runs in six innings of a 3-1 defeat against Boston on Thursday.

"The young man's coming up here on a mission," Gardenhire told the Twins' official Web site. "He's throwing the ball, which we need. ... You hope that he can carry on."

Swarzak won't have to deal with several of Cleveland's regulars. Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera separated his left shoulder Tuesday, joining Grady Sizemore (elbow) and Travis Hafner (shoulder) on the list of injured Indians.

Cabrera, batting .316 with two homers and 27 RBIs, will have an MRI on Wednesday.

"There's potential for the DL, but we'll have to wait and see," manager Eric Wedge said.