Cleveland Indians’ starting pitcher Corey Kluber was impeccable, immovable, nearly perfect last night against the team with the best record in all of Major League Baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals. It was one of the most shocking and pleasantly surprising performances I’ve ever seen in baseball. He was dominant in every aspect of the word for a team that desperately needed something to jump start their season.
The stunning part is that before last night, Kluber was far from Cy Young. The 29 year old starter was 0-5 with a 5.04 earned run average and had given up at least 4 earned runs in his last 4 starts. There was clearly no individual and no team that needed that type of herculean, record breaking effort more than Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians.
Kluber breezed through 8 innings, giving up just 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, and striking out a staggering 18 St. Louis Cardinals in a 2-0 victory in Cleveland. He had a no hitter going until the seventh inning when shortstop Jhonny Peralta broke it up, and it made sense after throwing 113 pitches through 8 innings, to pull Kluber at that point in time. It was a huge night for not only Kluber, but the Indians team as a whole who were 11-20 on the season, to have that kind of game against the team with the best record in baseball.
He is the first pitcher to strike out 18 hitters in a major league game since Ben Sheets did it with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2004, and the first American League pitcher to do it since Roger Clemens did it with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998.
