Kluber Takes the King’s Crown in Indians Win

Felix Hernandez is good…great…one of the top pitchers in all of baseball, with the potential to have the numbers to become a Hall of Famer. However, Corey Kluber was better on Wednesday night, continuing his dominance and tossing a three-hit shutout, needing just 85 pitches (69 strikes) and lowering his ERA to 2.61 while improving to 11-6 on the season. Hernandez fell to 11-3 and saw his ERA RAISE to 2.01. Impressive.

Outside of the dominant pitching match-up, the night featured one inning of scoring, the bottom of the 5th, when the Indians worked the bases loaded (Carlos Santana walk, Lonnie Chisenhall double, and Nick Swisher infield single) before Yan Gomes would double down the right field line to score Chisenhall and Swisher (Santana was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice by David Murphy), and that was all she wrote. 2-0 Indians over the Mariners, as Cleveland looks to take the first home series since the All-Star break in the series finale on Thursday night at Progressive Field. 

Positives

– Felix Hernandez came into the game with a 1.99 ERA and the Indians scored two runs.  That in itself is a win, but the fact that Kluber was as dominant as he was is just icing on the cake.

– Nick Swisher had two more hits. He’s hitting just .255/.277/.398 in July, but it’s better than his .192/.283/.316 from March 31 to June 30. Sign of things to come?

Negatives

– There were only four hits by the Indians tonight, but three of those came in the deciding 5th inning. While four hits seems weak, the Hernandez factor has to be accounted for.

Check It Out

– Kluber became pitcher since Jim Scott in 1914 with two straight starts of nine innings pitched and 28 batters faced.

– Triple-A Columbus right-hander Tyler Cloyd tossed a no-hitter on Wednesday night: