The set-up: The Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels will meet Friday night at Progressive Field in the second game of their four-game series. The Indians won 14-4 last night, moving to 64-48 on the season and extending their lead over the idle Tigers to four games in the AL Central. As for the Angels, LA falls to 49-65 on the year (in last-place in the AL West and ‘buried' with the AL's third-worst record), while losing for the seventh straight time. LA takes the field with MLB's longest active losing streak.

The pitching matchup: Tyler Skaggs (1-0, 2.04 ERA) takes the mound for LA, up against Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco (7-6, 3.17 ERA). Skaggs had Tommy John surgery back in 2014 and has just recently returned to the mound in 2016. His third start on the heels of that surgery did not go as well as the previous two, as he followed two scoreless outings by allowing four runs in 5 1/3 innings of a no-decision at Seattle on Saturday. Skaggs has faced Cleveland only once but pitched well, allowing three ERs on four hits in seven innings of a no-decision (Angels won the game). Carrasco comes of a third straight loss in last Sunday's 3-2 setback at the Yankees. However, he didn't pitch poorly, allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings.

The pick: Skaggs is tasked with ending the Angels' longest losing streak in six years (LA last lost seven in row in April and May of 2010) but that's unlikely. He faces an excellent Cleveland team which ranks third in runs scored (5.03 RPG) and 8th in team BA (.262). The Indians are even more dangerous offensively at home, averaging 5.9 RPG. Cleveland's staff owns the 8th-best ERA in MLB (3.86 ERA) and Carrasco owns impressive career numbers vs. the Angels. He owns a 1.36 ERA and 0.79 WHIP while limiting LA to just a .151 batting average in seven all-time appearances (just three starts). 8* play on Cleveland.