The Cleveland Indians finally reached the sacred plateau of being a .500 ball club this past week, but it was short-lived and left the Tribe missing a golden opportunity to gain vital ground in the American League Wild Card race.

It was good news that the Indians were series winners against the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers by winning two of three against both teams. But after going 4-2, the Indians remain 4.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the second wild card spot, gaining just 0.5 games for the week.

Two consecutive rain outs coming on September 11 and 12 may have taken a little bit of the Indians momentum away as the team was forced to play a traditional doubleheader on the 13th and oddly enough Terry Francona sent out the “B” team to start the critical second game by resting Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley, Yan Gomes and Abraham Almonte.

Not sure exactly all that went into Francona’s reasoning to give his starters rest for an important game the Indians lost 9-2 after two nights off due to rain outs, but the decision likely played a part in breaking the team’s 14-game streak of at least 10 hits in a game at home.

However, the Indians recent offensive play has moved the team up to fifth in the American League in batting average at .256, which places them ahead of the New York Yankees at .254. Cleveland also ranks fourth in OBP with .325, but ninth in OPS at .722, 11th in runs scored and 12th in slugging percentage with .397.

The Indians (70-71) have won 12 of the last 17 games and 11 of the last 13 at Progressive Field to make it an interesting September and at least be somewhat in playoff contention.

That bodes well as the Tribe plays the next seven games at home and it begins September 14 with a four-game set against the Kansas City Royals (84-57) and wraps up the home stand with a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox (67-74).

With only 21 games (perhaps only 20 if one of the rain out games against Detroit isn’t made up) left in the season, it’s almost to the point where every game is a must-win situation. I say almost because there have been many epic collapses in baseball history, so you never know what can happen. But I’ll just say the Indians can’t afford to have many more losses if the playoffs are to be had.

As usual, any chance to make the playoffs begins with pitching and, for the most part, that’s where the Indians have the advantage.

The Tribe ranks second in the American League in batting average against with .239, trailing only the Houston Astros with .237. The Indians also are second in WHIP with 1.19, again only behind Houston (1.18). The Tribe also leads the league in K’s with 1,228 and complete games with nine and is fourth in ERA at 3.83 and trail third-ranked Kansas City (3.74).

In the first game against Kansas City at 7:10 p.m. Sept. 14, Carlos Carrasco (12-10, 3.70 ERA) will take the mound. The Royals will counter with Edinson Volquez (13-7, 3.49 ERA).

Carrasco looks to rebound from a bad outing on September 8th after he was activated from the DL and only pitched 2.2 innings and allowed four runs, four hits and three walks against the White Sox.

For the September 15th game at 7:10 p.m., the Royals will start Kris Medlen (3-1, 4.58 ERA), while the Indians have not announced a starter. Presumably, the team is waiting to see if the hamstring of Corey Kluber (8-13, 3.41 ERA) has sufficiently healed.

Kluber has bounced back from a rocky start to his season when he began 0-5 with a 5.04 ERA. Since that time, he’s 8-8 with a 2.95 ERA and at times has looked just as dominant as he was during his Cy Young season in 2014.

Danny Salazar (12-8, 3.57 ERA) gets the start at 7:10 p.m. on September 16th while the Royals counter with Danny Duffy (7-7, 4.14 ERA). The month of September hasn’t been exactly kind to Salazar, who has given up nine runs and 15 hits in 10 innings during two starts.

The four-game series concludes with the Indians starting Cody Anderson (4-3, 3.68 ERA) and the Royals’ Yordano Ventura (11-8, 4.42 ERA) make the start.

The three-game series against the White Sox kicks off with 7:10 p.m. starting times on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19 with the series concluding with a 1:10 p.m. start on Sept. 20.

Who’s Hot – Who’s Not

Francisco Lindor continues to provide a spark near the top of the lineup and has seven hits in his last 23 at-bats for a .304 average. In addition to his dazzling defense, Lindor is hitting .364 in his last 30 games (40-for-110). He’s also one of the leading contenders for American League Rookie of the Year.

Almonte has played a huge role to stabilize the Indians outfield at the center field position. Almonte has showed great range in the field and a surprising combination of pop at the plate. In his last 15 games, Almonte has a .600 slugging percentage, .400 on-base percentage along with a .340 batting average.

Trevor Bauer (11-11, 4.71 ERA) has struggled a great deal in the second half of a season that seemed to have much promise in the first half. He gave up six runs in three innings against Detroit on Sept. 13 and has a 7.63 ERA in his last seven starts and a 5.57 ERA in his previous 15 games.

After an 0-for-5 game in the first game of the doubleheader on Sept. 13, Kipnis was on the bench for game two. He’s really struggled lately after briefly leading the league in hitting and has only three hits in his last 27 at-bats for a .111 average. His statistics aren’t much better for his last 15 games as Kipnis has just 10 hits in 64 at-bats for a .156 average. He’s also hitting .233 in his last 30 games (28-for-120).