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The ace will try to avenge a tough outing against the Indians on August 1,
when he gave up eight hits and seven runs in five innings.  In fact, Sale had his
share of troubles against Cleveland in his career, going 5-7 with a 4.81 ERA
in 17 starts.

Bauer went 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Royals his last time out,
striking out four and allowing seven hits to earn his 12th win of the season.
Bauer has posted a 1.51 ERA in his last six starts, and has not lost since July
16.

The schedule indicates that Thursday's MLB Network Showcase game at Progressive Field will be the final time the Red Sox and Indians meet this season.

But that doesn't account for the postseason. And right now, the two teams are on a collision course to meet in an American League Division Series for the second straight October.

Given the quality of the games between the Sox and Tribe in 2017, that is a matchup people should be rooting for.
In Thursday's finale of a four-game series at Progressive Field, the Red Sox will send lanky lefty ace Chris Sale (aka "The Stickman" for Players Weekend) to the mound. The Indians counter with right-hander Trevor Bauer (aka "Bauer Outage" for Players Weekend).

Sale has been everything the Red Sox had hoped when they acquired him from the White Sox back in December.
However, Sale has had his share of trouble against Cleveland in his career, going 5-7 with a 4.81 ERA in 17 starts. In fact, Sale was rocked by the Indians in an Aug. 1 epic at Fenway, giving up eight hits and seven runs over five innings in a 12-10 victory by the Red Sox.

Last October, the Indians stole home field from the Red Sox for the ALDS in the final weekend of the season. The Indians wound up sweeping the Red Sox in three games. Boston leads Cleveland by 3 1/2 games in the race for home field entering Thursday's game.

"Extremely important. Home-field advantage is important for any team," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "We know where we stand, we know what's ahead and believe me, we're doing everything we can to secure it."

Right now, the Indians are just trying to get healthy. Star reliever Andrew Miller and second baseman Jason Kipnis were placed on the disabled list this week, joining Lonnie Chisenhall, Danny Salazar and Josh Tomlin.

"There's no team on the other side that's going to feel sorry for us," said Indians manager Terry Francona. "We talk about it all the time. There's times during a season where winning is harder than others, and there's times where maybe you've got to keep your head above water. That's why we always fall back on, let's try to win tonight."

THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME

• Veteran outfielder Rajai Davis, acquired by the Red Sox from the Athletics during Wednesday's game, will arrive in time for Thursday's finale and might start in center. Davis played for the Indians last season and hit a game-tying two-run homer in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

• Indians first baseman Carlos Santana was out Tuesday and Wednesday due to lower-back tightness, but was on the mend. Francona said there is a strong chance that Santana can play Thursday. Santana has posted a .930 OPS in August.

• Sale thrown the fourth-highest rate of pitches within strike zone of any full-time starter (min. 1,500 pitches), and he has also recorded more punchouts within the bounds of the Statcast strike zone -- 132 -- than any other pitcher this year. Using strikeouts and the quality of contact he's allowed on batted balls, Statcast also calculate Sale's expected batting average allowed on in-zone pitches to be .218, which ranked as the third-lowest of any full-time starter entering Wednesday's action.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170823250185388/sale-bauer-duel-in-mlb-network-showcase/?game_pk=491997