CLEVELAND -- Tonight’s game between the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals will be televised on WKYC Channel 3, and wkyc.com will be live from Progressive Field for wall-to-wall coverage of the key battle of American League Central Division teams.
WKYC Indians Super Fan Giovanni Castelli (@gcastelli216) will join WKYC.com’s Dave “Dino” DeNatale for coverage of tonight’s game between The Tribe and the Royals.
An avid Indians fan who has traveled to Wrigley Field in Chicago, Pittsburgh's PNC Park, Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. and Boston's Fenway Park to see his favorite team play over the last 18 months, Castelli will join DeNatale on Facebook Live pre and post-game shows right before the first pitch and immediately following the final out at the ballpark.
In addition to his travels, Castelli is so loyal to Cleveland sports that he proudly shows his support with ink.
After the Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA Championship with an historic comeback over the Golden State Warriors, Castelli got a tattoo of the Larry O'Brien Trophy, and is hoping to add an Indians World Series piece in early November.
Left-hander Ryan Merritt will take the mound for the Indians tonight, and he will duel against Royals starter Jason Vargas.
Merritt is 0-0 with a 3.12 earned run average over 8.2 innings of work in three appearances, including two starts, for the Indians this year. Splitting time between Cleveland and the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, with a spot start at Single-A Lake County, Merritt is 11-5 with a 3.00 ERA over 123.0 innings in 20 games in the minors this season.
Vargas is 14-7 on the year, and while he has found success on the road this season, allowing just 26 earned runs over 64.2 innings, he gave up four earned runs and six hits in a start against the Indians at Kauffman Stadium on August 19.
The Indians (70-56) enter tonight’s game with a 5.5-game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central standings, but the Royals (64-62) are not far away in third place. The 2015 World Series Champion Royals trail the Indians by six games, and the two teams will play seven more times, including tonight, over the final six weeks of the season.
All seven of those games will be played at Progressive Field.
