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CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians Jake Dotchin Jersey , who are in first place in the American League Central Division, are in the midst of a portion of their schedule in which they have an opportunity to lengthen their division lead, or see it evaporate — quickly.

Saturday at Progressive Field the Indians will host the division-rival Minnesota Twins in the second game of a three-game series. Saturday’s game will be the Indians’ ninth game in a 16-game stretch in which they will play only AL Central teams. In the first eight games in that span the Indians are 4-4, including a 6-3 loss to the Twins Friday night.

Overall this season the Indians are 18-12 against AL Central teams, including 11-3 at Progressive Field. The Twins are 15-10 against AL Central teams, and 5-2 against Cleveland.

Both teams made roster moves prior to Friday’s game. The Indians activated outfielder Tyler Naquin off the disabled list and placed first baseman Yonder Alonso on the family medical emergency list. Naquin was in the lineup Friday and played center field. He went 1-for-3 in his first game since being placed on the DL on May 11 with a strained left hamstring.

The Twins on Friday activated first baseman Joe Mauer off the disabled list and recalled infielder Taylor Motter from Triple-A Rochester. Mauer and Motter replace infielder Miguel Sano, who was optioned to Class-A Fort Myers, and outfielder Jake Cave, who was optioned to Rochester.

“It’s really been bothering him that he hasn’t been contributing while we’ve been losing. His biggest goal is to win,” Twins manager Paul Molitor told the Minneapolis Star Tribune regarding Sano. “Some things have knocked him off course from time to time, and it’s time to address them.”

Mauer missed 25 games with a cervical strain/concussion-like symptoms. Motter was claimed off waivers from Seattle on May 28 and hit .167 (7-for-42) at Rochester.

Although the Indians are just 6-7 in June, they are encouraged by the improved work by their bullpen, which was the American League’s worst over the first two months of the season. However, in the month of June, the Indians’ 2.30 bullpen ERA ranks fifth. Two new additions, left-hander Oliver Perez and right-hander Neil Ramirez, have been key contributors in the bullpen’s resurgence.

“We were hoping that with an opportunity to pitch for those guys, good things would happen, and that’s what happened,” said Indians manager Terry Francona. “Perez has helped a lot, and Ramirez has some swing and miss stuff. Things are definitely settling down (in the bullpen).”

The pitching matchup Saturday will be a pair of right-handers: Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco vs. Minnesota’s Fernando Romero.

Carrasco (8-4, 3.90 ERA) is coming off his best start of the season, a 4-0 win over the White Sox on June 11. In that game, Carrasco pitched seven scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and recorded 11 strikeouts with one walk.

Carrasco has started two games against the Twins this season and is 0-1 with a 5.06 ERA. In 19 career appearances (16 starts) against Minnesota, Carrasco is 5-7 with a 3.97 ERA.

The 23-year-old Romero (3-2 Authentic Louis Domingue Jersey , 3.92) will be making his ninth major league start and his first against Cleveland. Romero’s last start was a 7-5 win over the Angels on June 10. Romero pitched five innings in that game, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits, with five strikeouts and two walks.

Romero’s rookie season started well but has been bumpy in recent starts. In his first three starts he was 2-0 with a 0.54 ERA. But in his last five starts he is 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA.

Marquand Manuel has taught Atlanta’s defense how to do a better job of closing out games in his first season as an NFL coordinator.

It took a few weeks for Manuel, a longtime defensive back and assistant coach, to get comfortable calling plays for the Falcons, but the defense has improved noticeably from a year ago.

He got the job in February, promoted from secondary coach after the Falcons blew the biggest lead in Super Bowl history – 25 points – to suffer a humiliating loss to New England.

In replacing Richard Smith, Manuel has essentially the same personnel from a season ago, but he’s helped Atlanta thanks in large part to greatly reducing potent plays.

The Falcons ranked No. 8 in passes allowed of at least 20 yards, up 15 spots from last season. They went from 25th in runs allowed of at least 20 yards to No. 2 this season.

Manuel’s challenge this week is to draw up a game plan that will help Atlanta (11-6) come away with an NFC divisional playoff victory at Philadelphia (13-3).

It won’t be easy, but he credits the years he spent coaching under Pete Carroll in Seattle and under Dan Quinn in Seattle and Atlanta with building the confidence he needs to succeed in pressure situations.

”Understanding the situations, how to call it, how are you going to respond?” Manuel said Tuesday. ”Are you going to be emotional or are you going to keep everyone poised? Again it goes back to getting the players prepared and also having that experience I have to get the coaches prepared.

”So that has been a blessing within itself and it’s been awesome just to watch the guys go out. We understood that to be road warriors you have to do the small details right, day in and day out.”

Quinn knew Manuel was the man for the job and didn’t look outside the building to make the hire. They had worked together for several years in Seattle. Manuel came with Quinn from the Seahawks and spent his first two seasons in Atlanta coaching defensive backs.

”He was waiting patiently for his opportunity at this shot,” Quinn said, ”and he’s certainly taken advantage of it in terms of implementing the style and communication that we like to get across for the defense.”

Manuel is still annoyed with how poorly the Falcons played in a Week 10 loss at Philadelphia last season, giving up 429 yards and allowing the Eagles to hold the ball for 38 minutes in a nine-point loss.

”They hit us in the mouth,” he said. ”So we have to be prepared for that.”

He also vividly remembers how ragged the Falcons looked this season against Jay Ajayi, the only running back to rush for 100 yards against Atlanta until the Rams’ Todd Gurley did the same in last week’s playoff win at Los Angeles.

Manuel sees this week’s NFC divisional matchup at Philadelphia as a chance to right two wrongs.

The Falcons aren’t just looking for payback against the Eagles. They’re also are eager to get another shot at Ajayi, who led Miami to a 20-17 win in Week 5 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but was traded in late October after Philadelphia lost Darren Sproles to a season-ending injury.

Philadelphia has a tough 1-2 punch at running back with Ajayi’s speed and LeGarrette Blount’s inside power game.

”We don’t have a (complicated) defense, but we are very detailed,” Manuel said. ”And the detail of expectations of understanding that they have to make our defense come to life, and they’re doing an awesome job at it.”

NOTES: QB Matt Ryan was not at practice because of a personal matter. He’s expected to return on Wednesday. … WR Julio Jones (ankle) was held out. … RB Devonta Freeman (knee) and WR Mohamed Sanu (knee) were limited.

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