Despite losing two of three to the Boston Red Sox on the road, the Cleveland Indians had an impressive week to put themselves right into the mix for the American League Central Division lead. Cleveland (22-19) won five of its seven games to move up to just 2.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox (26-18) for first place. The Tribe now has a tremendous opportunity to cut the lead even further or perhaps even make a move to the top spot with another good week with four games scheduled against Chicago.

The Indians took advantage offensively of some bad pitching last week by the Cincinnati Red, who the Tribe swept in a consecutive two-game series in Cleveland and then in Cincinnati by scoring 43 runs in four games while allowing just 16 runs by the Reds.

After taking the first game in Boston on May 20 by a 4-2 score, the Tribe then lost the next two against the Red Sox to conclude the week with a 5-2 mark. Once again, scoring four runs seems to be the magic number for the Indians. When scoring four or more, the Tribe won all five games. However, in the two losses to Boston, the Indians scored one run and two runs, respectively. It’s been nearly a month since the Indians dropped a game when they scored four or more, as the last time that happened was a 6-5 loss to Minnesota on April 26.

Despite the outburst against the Reds substantially increasing the Tribe’s average runs per game, the Indians still have some glaring offensive shortcomings at the moment, especially at the catching position. Yan Gomes continues to struggle at the plate since after he was injured early in the 2015. Gomes just hasn’t come close to recapturing the magic from the 2014 when he won the AL Silver Slugger award at the catching position. He’s now hitting just .179 with a lowly .588 OPS. That’s just not getting it done, folks. Gomes is a superior defender though and handles the pitching staff well, so he’s given some slack, but how long can he still stick in the No. 6 spot in the lineup?

Backup Chris Gimenez isn’t faring much better after hitting a home run in his first game on May 5. He’s now hitting just .167 with a .544 OPS in 18 at bats. Yes, it’s a small sample size, but it continues the theme of the catching position contributing very little offensively.

Fortunately, Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis are having good seasons. Lindor is hitting .325 with an .810 OPS and that is all-star caliber. The sky is the limit for this youngster. Kipnis is hitting .283 with a .779 OPS and has been mostly consistent during the 2016 campaign.

Questions continue to arise surrounding how much longer the Indians will use Juan Uribe as the everyday third baseman and Lonnie Chisenhall getting consistent playing time in right field. Both are having subpar seasons and options in the minor leagues such as third baseman Giovanny Urshela (unless his leg injury keeps him out for a while) and outfielder Tyler Naquin keep getting more difficult to ignore as the season progresses.

You might remember it was nearly a year ago when Chisenhall and Jose Ramirez were demoted and Lindor and Urshela were called up. The promotions seemed to energize the team quite a bit. Perhaps a similar bold move in 2016 isn’t that far away or at least shouldn’t be that far away.

Anyway, now isn’t the time for the Indians to continue their path of mediocrity by following up good stretches of play with equally lackluster efforts and hovering around the .500 mark. The Tribe will play its next four games against the White Sox, so anything worse than winning two games will significantly extinguish any recent momentum accumulated. It’s not too early to call this a big series or even a critical one.

The Indians will play two on May 22 with the first game scheduled at 5:10 p.m. Mike Clevinger (0-0, 6.75 ERA) makes his second MLB start. The White Sox will counter with Mat Latos (5-1, 4.00 ERA). Clevinger gave up four runs and five hits in 5.1 innings on May 18 in his debut and hopefully will be more relaxed after getting his initial start under his belt.

In game 2, Cody Anderson (0-3, 7.99 ERA) gets the start while the White Sox will send Erik Johnson (0-1, 7.20 ERA) to the mound. Anderson has disappointed in 2016 and isn’t pitching like he did to finish up the 2015 campaign. In his last start on May 16, Anderson gave up nine hits and six runs and two walks in 4.1 innings.

Josh Tomlin will start for the Tribe for the May 24 game scheduled for 8:10 p.m. Meanwhile, the White Sox will send lefty ace Chris Sale (9-0, 1.58 ERA) to the hill. Sale has been dominant so far this year and will be tough to beat, especially as he is the early-season leading candidate for the Cy Young award. However, Tomlin has held his own this year and has been one of the Tribe’s most reliable and consistent starters.

Corey Kluber (3-5, 4.10 ERA) heads to the mound for the 2:10 p.m. start on May 25. Lefty Jose Quintana (5-3, 1.98 ERA) gets the start for the White Sox. Kluber looks to build on his last start on May 20 when he pitched seven innings and gave up just five hits and two runs while striking out six and walking two.

The Tribe then has an off day on May 26 and heads back to Progressive Field in Cleveland for a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles starting Friday. Games are scheduled for 7:10 p.m. on May 27, 4:10 p.m. on May 28, and 1:10 p.m. on May 29. Neither team has announced their starting pitchers for that weekend series.

Who’s Hot – Who’s Not

Rajai Davis has started to pick it up at the plate, despite an 0-for-3 on May 22. In his last seven games, he’s hitting .385 with 10 hits in 26 AB while posting a .515 OBP and .731 slugging percentage. Davis also had two home runs and nine RBI.

Carlos Santana has also picked it up recently and is slashing .318/.484/.773 in his last 30 plate appearances. This is despite manager Terry Francona moving Santana around in the batting order between leading off and primarily hitting fifth.

Mike Napoli is really struggling lately and has just four hits in his last 30 AB (.133 average) with 16 strikeouts. That’s the kind of hitter he is – one who can be prone to significant slumps. However, he also can get hot and be a solid right-handed power bat when he’s rolling. The Tribe will need him against the lefties Chicago will march out to the mound this week.

Ramirez has cooled off a bit after his strong start and his overall average has dipped below .300 with a .296 mark. In his last seven games, Ramirez is hitting .231 with six hits in 26 ABs. However, I think he provides a better offensive option than Chisenhall and/or Uribe and should get the start when possible rather than fielding a starting lineup with both Uribe and Chisenhall or (even worse) Michael Martinez in it.