CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians are in that rarest of positions: it’s early September Reggie Jackson Jersey , but they are already preparing for October. Such is the luxury enjoyed by a team leading its division by 14 games.The American League Central-leading Indians are 14 games ahead of the second-place Minnesota Twins. So the Indians, who host Kansas City on Monday afternoon at Progressive Field, will use most of this month to prepare for postseason baseball.The Indians added Josh Donaldson to their active roster. However, Donaldson, acquired from Toronto in a trade on Aug. 31, won’t see any action against the Royals, who have won five in a row.Article continues below ...Donaldson is still rehabbing a calf strain. That means Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis, who will become the odd man out in the infield once Donaldson starts playing, remains at second base.It’s a challenging situation for Kipnis, who made a statement of sorts Saturday, when in his first at-bat after learning he was going to eventually lose his job to Donaldson, belted a pinch-home run.The 31-year-old Kipnis http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-bernie-williams-jersey , a career .268 hitter at the start of this season, has hit in the .220s for most of this year, with career lows in most offensive categories. He’s a two-time All-Star who has spent eight years in Cleveland. But the plan, once Donaldson starts playing, is he takes over at third base, moving Jose Ramirez to second, and Kipnis will compete for playing time in center field with Greg Allen.“He’ll start taking balls in center field (during batting practice) and at some point we’ll put him out there and see how it looks,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Kipnis. “He’s a pretty good competitor.”Indians president Chris Antonetti applauded Ramirez’s unselfishness.“It’s not often that you see an MVP candidate being asked to change positions during the season, but Jose has been great about it,” Antonetti said.With Donaldson not yet ready to play, the Indians’ lineup on Monday against the Royals will be the one they’ve used most of the season — with Kipnis at second and Ramirez at third.On the mound for Cleveland will be right-hander Adam Plutko (4-4, 4.94 ERA) C.C. Sabathia Jersey , who will make his first career appearance against Kansas City. In Plutko’s last start, he received a no-decision in the Indians’ 4-3 loss to the Twins on Aug. 29.In that game, Plutko pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up two runs and five hits with five strikeouts and two walks.Plutko hasn’t won a game since June 24. In six appearances (four starts) since then, he is 0-3 with a 5.27 ERA.Kansas City’s starter will be right-hander Jakob Junis (7-12, 4.53), who is coming off the first complete game of his career in his last start on Aug. 28. In a 6-2 win over Detroit, Junis pitched nine innings while throwing 104 pitches, allowing two runs and six hits, with seven strikeouts and no walks.Junis’ last start against Cleveland was a 9-3 loss on July 2. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing nine runs (eight earned) with eight hits, two strikeouts and one walk.In two starts against the Indians this year http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-randy-johnson-jersey , Junis is 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA. In four career appearances (three starts) vs. Cleveland, he is 0-2 with an 8.05 ERA.Before Sunday’s game, the Indians activated right-hander Neil Ramirez off the disabled list. ST. LOUIS (AP) — In a pivotal series for the Dodgers, rookie Walker Buehler came through with a masterful performance.Buehler allowed two hits in eight innings, Yasiel Puig homered twice and Los Angeles drew even with the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL wild-card race with a 3-0 victory on Friday night. The Dodgers also moved within one-half game of first-place Colorado in the NL West.Buehler (7-5) pitched beyond the seventh inning for the first time and earned his first victory since Aug. 17. He retired the first 13 batters before Paul DeJong singled to left field. Harrison Bader singled later in the fifth for the Cardinals’ only other hit.“This was probably the best pitching performance of the year,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Not only Walker but across the board. Against a very good club in St. Louis on the road and obviously what’s at stake right now for each game. He wanted this moment and just coming out firing. His command. Just domination. He kind of did what he wanted to do tonight.”Buehler struck out nine and walked two. In two career starts against St. Louis, the right-hander has not allowed a run and has 18 strikeouts in 15 innings.“He’s got some serious weapons,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s throwing 97-98 (mph), with command. When you can locate your fastball, regardless of velocity, that’s a nice weapon. Then you do it with that velocity and then you do it with some cut. And his cutter, at least from the side Andy Pettitte Jersey , it looked like it had some depth. Then second time through the lineup, start mixing in a changeup and hitting with that, that’s a pretty potent weaponry right there.”The Dodgers and Cardinals are tied for the second NL wild-card position, four games behind Milwaukee for the top spot. But Los Angeles has its sights on the division crown and moved closer when the Rockies lost to San Francisco.“Sometimes there’s teams you match up well against,” Buehler said. “It’s hard to explain. It’s just the way the game works and luckily tonight that worked out.”Puig homered in the second off Jack Flaherty (8-7) and connected again in the ninth off Tyler Webb. It was his second multi-homer game of the season.“I was trying to do my best,” Puig said through a translator. “He threw a fastball there and I was able to connect with it. I can hit lefties sometimes and right there I was trying to find something up in the zone. I wasn’t expecting a home run but it happened.”In the seventh, Cody Bellinger scored on a passed ball by Yadier Molina.Kenley Jansen hit Yairo Munoz with a pitch to open the ninth but retired the next three batters to finish the two-hitter, earning his 35th save in 39 opportunities.Flaherty worked six innings, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. He has 168 strikeouts this season, the fourth-best total for a rookie in franchise history.“We want to win. I don’t care about my line. I don’t care about anything other than winning,” Flaherty said. “It doesn’t matter how I pitched, I didn’t pitch well enough. He pitched better than I did.”TRAINER’S ROOMDodgers: Relievers John Axford and Tony Cingrani were scheduled to pitch in the California Championship Series for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Friday night. “They’re stacking the deck http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-gary-sanchez-jersey , trying to help them make their playoff push,” Roberts joked. “They’re supposed to go an inning each. We’ll see how they come out of it. Our hope is to get these guys back.” Axford could return to the majors after one appearance, while Cingrani (shoulder) would likely need more rehab work.Cardinals: IF Jedd Gyorko is likely to return to the starting lineup Saturday, manager Mike Shildt said. He drew a pinch-hit walk in the eighth inning and was replaced by pinch-runner Adolis Garcia.UP NEXTThe Cardinals send right-hander John Gant (7-5, 3.16 ERA) to the mound Saturday afternoon to make his third career appearance and first start against Los Angeles. Veteran lefty Rich Hill (8-5, 3.88) starts for the Dodgers.
