Cleveland @ Minnesota preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 27, 2013 ) Cleveland 12, Minnesota 6

The Cleveland Indians are riding their surge to the top of the wild card standings and are going for homefield advantage in the one-game playoff. The Indians will look for their ninth straight victory when they visit the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. Cleveland is tied atop the wild card standings with the Tamps Bay Rays, one game ahead of the third-place Texas Rangers.

The Indians can secure homefield in that one-game playoff by finishing ahead of Texas and Tampa Bay but could be left out of the party completely with a rough final two days. Cleveland does not look like it will slow down at all, averaging 7.8 runs in the last five games. The Twins fell into big deficits in each of the first two games of the series but battled back to make things interesting before falling short.

TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, FOX

PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians LH Scott Kazmir (9-9, 4.14 ERA) vs. Twins RH Cole De Vries (0-1, 11.70)

Kazmir snapped a two-start losing streak by striking out 10 over seven scoreless innings against Houston last Saturday. The 29-year-old recorded 32 strikeouts with just two walks in 22 innings over his last four starts. Kazmir struck out eight in six innings against Minnesota on Aug. 25 while yielding one run.

De Vries is getting a fourth chance to earn a first win after being lit up for 13 runs over 10 innings in his first three chances. The 28-year-old is not helping himself by issuing eight walks and surrendering five home runs. De Vries made one start against Cleveland in 2012 and was impressive, allowing three hits in six scoreless frames.

WALK-OFFS

1. Indians LF Michael Brantley is aiming to extend his hitting streak to 12 straight games.

2. Minnesota C/OF Ryan Doumit is 5-for-10 in the series and needs one home run to reach 100 for his career.

3. Cleveland removed RHP Chris Perez from the closer role after a meltdown Thursday and is going to a closer-by-committee system.

PREDICTION: Indians 6, Twins 3