eir best with a game-high 43 possessions - more than half of those coming before halftime - and 10 clearances.But despite his impressive statistics, he didnt exactly impress Fr

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros will conclude their four-game series Thursday afternoon at Progressive Field. Houston won the first two games, but Cleveland won the third game Wednesday.The end of Wednesdays game was a closers nightmare. With the Indians clinging to a 6-5 lead, Houston had the tying run at first base, two outs in the top of the ninth inning, and Jose Altuve at the plate. But Indians closer Cody Allen rose to the challenge, striking out the leagues leading hitter to end the game.We were hoping Altuve wouldnt come to the plate, but it figures, said Indians manager Terry Francona.Said Allen: Those are situations, you dont like them, but in hindsight you enjoy them. Its competition at its best. Game on the line. Hes one of the best hitters in the game.The Indians are 7-2 on the 10-game homestand that concludes Thursday. The pitching matchup will be Trevor Bauer (10-6, 3.70) for the Indians vs. Astros right-hander David Paulino, who will be making his major league debut.Bauer comes into the game on a roll. In his last six starts Bauer is 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA while holding opposing batters to a .215 batting average. This will be Bauers second start against Houston. In his first start, on May 10, he was outstanding. In a 4-0 victory Bauer pitched seven scoreless innings on three hits with seven strikeouts.Houston is one of Bauers preferred opponents. In four career starts against the Astros he is 4-0 with a 0.67 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 27 innings.Paulino is ranked as the No.4 prospect in the Houston organization and No.76 in all of baseball by MLB.com. He pitched at three levels this year, Class-A Gulf Coast Astros, Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Fresno. In a combined 20 appearances, 15 starts he was 5-4 with a 2.00 ERA. In 90 innings he gave up 72 hits with 106 strikeouts and 19 walks.The Astros will play the game without shortstop Carlos Correa, who also missed Wednesdays game. Correa has an inflamed left shoulder and was sent back to Houston for further tests.Manger A.J. Hinch said he expects Correa to be able to play Friday, when the Astros open a homestand against the Cubs.Carlos is a little beat up, Hinch said. We sent him to see our doctors. We felt it was the right decision.Alex Bregman, who was drafted as a shortstop last year, but has played mostly third base since joining the Astros, started at short on Wednesday, and is expected to be there again on Thursday.Correa struck out three times in Tuesdays game, but has a 12-game hitting streak. Correa is hitting .274 with 90 RBI, 87 of them as a shortstop, which broke the Astros record for most RBI by a shortstop, which was 86, by Miguel Tejada in 2009.The series between the Indians and Astros has been very competitive, and with good reason. Houston is battling for the second wildcard spot in the American League and the Indians, who lead the AL Central by 5 1/2 games, are trying to hold off second place Detroit to win the division for the first time since 2007.Teams are chasing us. We have to play good baseball, Allen said. We want to win on a daily basis, because as long as we continue to win, they cant catch us.Custom Canucks T-shirts . Thats about all he can do right now, so hes trying not to think about when he might be able to play again for the Los Angeles Lakers. Authentic Custom Canucks Jersey .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. http://www.customcanucksjersey.com/ .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. Cheap Custom Canucks Jersey . -- Edmontons Val Sweeting is two wins away from a trip to Winnipeg to play in Canadas Road of the Rings in December. Custom Canucks Jerseys . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.Gold Coasts key forwards have combined to wreak havoc against Fremantle, paving the way for 24-point win described by coach Rodney Eade as their best of the AFL season.Both sides fielded undermanned teams due to injury, but Suns trio Sam Day, Peter Wright and Tom Lynch stood tall above the rest in the 16.9 (105) to 12.9 (81) victory on Saturday at Metricon Stadium, improving their record to 6-11.Day booted four goals in arguably his strongest game in several years while Wrights terrific debut season continued with a haul of three majors.Vice-captain Lynch, meanwhile, was well held by Dockers fullback Zac Dawson for most of the match but still managed to kick four goals - two of them coming in the final term when the game was in the balance.Between them, Day, Wright and Lynch contributed 11 of Gold Coasts 16 goals - and with Lynch the oldest of the trio at just 23, the Suns appear well covered in the big-man department for a long time to come.But Eade confessed he was very worried about how the Suns would fare given their dire shortage of on-ballers.The Suns were already missing their six best midfielders - Gary Ablett (shoulder), Jaeger OMeara, David Swallow, Dion Prestia, Michael Rischitelli (knee) and Aaron Hall (hamstring) - and, in a cruel pre-match blow, lost mooted inclusion Matt Rosa to a hamstring issue.However, their makeshift engine room - led by Touk Milller and Alex Sexton - still managed to take the edge in clearances (34-32) and contested possessions (138-124).ddddddddddddWe thought we could get an advantage (with our talls) but we were really worried about the midfield, to be honest, Eade said.But I thought our midfield really stood up - there were some great efforts.Really, for the lack of run that we had, to do what we were able to do was fantastic.Fremantle, who rested veteran Matthew Pavlich to allow him to celebrate his 250th AFL match at home next weekend, were right in the contest until a string of five unanswered goals across the third and fourth quarters put it beyond reach.Midfielder Lachie Neale was their best with a game-high 43 possessions - more than half of those coming before halftime - and 10 clearances.But despite his impressive statistics, he didnt exactly impress Fremantle coach Ross Lyon.I think you can get caught up in the numbers a bit, he said.(He) probably could have pressured around the ball and tackled a bit more. He told me that.Really simply, were leaving it too much to too few and we need a few to buy in.A crowd of 8933 braved the hottest July day recorded on the Gold Coast, with temperatures reaching an unseasonable 28 degrees before the first bounce. ' ' '