Tribe remains Twins' Achilles' heel: Indians pregame notes

CLEVELAND -- After six weeks in Arizona and somewhat comfortable temparatures in Oakland, the Indians are back in frigid Northeast Ohio as temperatures will be hovering in the high 30's for today's game, which will be on Fox Sports 1.

"When you come back here in these games even when you have a nice at-bat it doesn't carry over," Terry Francona said. "The bat is cold, your hands are cold. Every at-bat is a grind. As you get into the summer and guys feel good that's when you get hot and it carries over. Now it doesn't and you do the best you can."

Carlos Carrasco is on the hill today and tries to end a run where the last three Tribe starters have struggled. Corey Kluber, Zach McAllister and Danny Salazar gave up runs in the first inning. The big thing for Carrasco is to have more faith in his fastball, which he has not trusted at times more than he should have.

Another thing to watch will be if the Twins retaliate after Nick Swisher's bat flip when he hit the two-run homer during the seventh inning?

DL NEWS: Michael Bourn will play in one game of Columbus' doubleheader against Indianapolis today. Before he comes off the disabled list, Jason Giambi will do a rehab stint for a couple games as a designated hitter. The possibility is Akron, which is home for seven straight starting April 10.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I was touched. I was a little surprised but I was kind of touched. It's nice to feel cared for and wanted in your job. I've been pretty open about wanting to come here and be a part of this. I have no ambitions on going anywhere else. It felt good." -- Francona on the ovation during pregame introductions on Friday.

LINEUPS

TWINS (1-3)

Brian Dozier 2B

Joe Mauer 1B

Josh Willingham LF

Chris Colabello DH

Trevor Plouffe 3B

Jason Kubel RF

Josmil Pinto C

Aaron Hicks CF

Pedro Florimon SS

Kyle Gibson P -- The right-hander has made one previous start against the Indians and went 5 1/3 inniings. He gave up three earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts.

Twins vs. Carrasco: Dozier 1 for 5, RBI; Mauer 5 for 8, Willingham 1 for 5, Colabello 1 for 2, Plouffe 1 for 5, Kubel 2 for 8, Pinto 0 for 0; Hicks 0 for 0; Florimon 1 for 3.

INDIANS (3-1)

Nyjer Morgan CF

Nick Swisher 1B

Jason Kipnis 2B

Carlos Santana DH

Michael Brantley LF

Asdrubal Cabrera SS

David Murphy RF

Yan Gomes C

Lonnie Chisenhall 3B

Carlos Carrasco P -- The right-hander is 1-2 with a 3.21 ERA in six appearances against the Twins.

Indians vs. Gibson: Morgan 0 for 0; Swisher 0 for 3; Kipnis 1 for 2; Santana 0 for 2; Brantley 1 for 3, RBI; Cabrera 0 for 0; Murphy 0 for 0; Gomes 0 for 0; Chisenhall 0 for 2.

Number of the Day: .347 -- The Indians batting average in the last three innings. They are 17 for 49 and have scored 11 of their 16 runs after the sixth.

Notes: The Tribe has won seven straight games against the Twins dating back to last season and have outscored them 45-18. ... Seven of the 12 hitters have multi-hit games. ... Chisenhall is hitting .333 for his career against the Twins (30 for 90). ... Cabrera has seven homers against Minnesota. ... Ron Gardenhire remains one win away from 1,000. He would be the 10th in major-league history to achieve that mark with one club. Gardenhire is 114-109 against Cleveland. ... Dozier, who started the season 0 for 13, had three hits on Friday.