The set-up: The Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader at the New York Yankees on Wednesday and the AL Central leaders (Indians are up 6 1/2 games on the Twins) will try to pull the same trick on Friday, when they open a four-game series at the Detroit Tigers with a split doubleheader. Cleveland did not negatively impacting its pitching rotation on Wednesday and the Indians own the AL's lowest team ERA (3.57), as well as its lowest bullpen ERA (3.01). The big news out of Detroit on Thursday was that the Tigers traded 13-year vet Justin Verlander (former AL MVP and Cy Young winner) to the Houston Astros. Detroit opens this series 58-74 (the AL's third-worst record), a whopping 18 games back of the Indians, who by the way, have crept to within 3 1/2 games of the Houston Astros for the AL's best record (Astros could use Verlander to hold off the Indians).

The pitching matchup: It looks like Mike Clevinger (7-5 & 3.72 ERA) and Buck Farmer (3-1 & 6.17 ERA) for Detroit in Friday's nightcap. Clevinger is coming off a strong outing against Kansas City on Saturday, in which he scattered four hits over six scoreless innings and matched a season high with nine strikeouts in a 4-0 win. Clevinger has pitched well for Cleveland in 2017, and enters having allowed one or no earned runs in SIX of his last 11 appearances. Two of those outings came in back-to-back starts against Detroit on July 2 and 8, during which Clevinger yielded a total of one run on five hits in 12 innings (0.75 ERA), picking up victories in each. He's 2-1 with a 3.86 in three career starts vs. Detroit. Farmer is in his second stint with the Tigers this season and earned a win at the Chicago White Sox after being recalled on Saturday, allowing three runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings of a 6-3 Detroit victory. He's in his fourth season of bouncing back and forth between Detroit and Triple-A. He is 6-4 with a 3.93 ERA in 21 starts for the Triple-A Toledo in 2017 but he owns a 6.17 ERA in five big league starts this season.

The pick: It won't inspire confidence in Farmer considering he's seeing Cleveland for the first time this season and is 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA in four career appearances - two starts (both losses) - against this division rival. The Indians are 40-27 on the road in 2017 and if Carrasco "takes care of business" in Game 1, I expect the Indians to earn a second straight doubleheader sweep. Make Cleveland an 8* play.