These two clubs also meet earlier Tuesday, September 8, so whatever happens in that game will shape who's available and how each bullpen looks by the time Wednesday's first pitch rolls around. Cleveland took the finale of its four-game set with Detroit before this trip, while Baltimore was coming off being swept in four games by Boston — a stretch that included consecutive shutout losses — before flipping the script and beating the Guardians in the series opener.
Cleveland's lineup is missing Rhys Hoskins, who's still not doing baseball activity as he works back from a back issue, and Chase DeLauter has been in and out of the lineup with a wrist injury, though the Guardians have described him as improving. On the pitching side, reliever Colin Holderman just landed on the 15-day injured list with wrist inflammation, thinning out a bullpen Cleveland will need down the stretch of a playoff push.
Baltimore's injury list reads like a season gone sideways: Jordan Westburg, Zach Eflin and Keegan Akin are all out for the year after Tommy John surgery, and the bullpen's missing both Felix Bautista and Ryan Helsley, with neither return imminent. Add Luis Robert Jr. and Christian Franklin both nursing injuries in the outfield, and it's a club playing out the string with a patchwork roster — even while it's the one currently holding the head-to-head edge in this series.