Indians: Alarms are starting to go off in Cleveland because their starting rotation is supposed to be a strength, but it hasn’t been. Cleveland starters have a 5.14 ERA, highest in the American League. They were 1-4 with a 7.07 ERA on their recent homestand, which included two losses to the Twins.

 

Royals: Kansas City began Saturday with the worst record in the American League, but the Royals are not going down without a fight. Lefthander Danny Duffy spent pregame Thursday firing up teammates, one by one, before going out and pitching seven shutout innings to help beat the Yankees 5-1.

Tigers: Righthander Michael Fulmer, above, has pitched at least six innings in every start this season. He gave up three runs over seven innings to Baltimore on Wednesday but made a believer out of Orioles manager Buck Showalter. “We’ve seen him go up another level at 100 pitches,” he said. “That tells you he’s managing the game.”

 

White Sox: Anthony Swarzak is mortal. The former Twins reliever gave up a three-run homer to the Mike Trout on Wednesday during a loss to the Angels, ending his scoreless inning streak at 19â…”. He had given up only four hits during that run, but gave up two hits before Trout’s blast.