Indians 6, Twins 1
Indians improve to 54-60
Wow are we lucky to have Corey Kluber on our side. The Tribe's ace did it again, this time firing a one hit complete game masterpiece in the Indians 6-1 victory Friday night over the Minnesota Twins.
Kluber's previous start also came against the Twins and it was also a dominating performance. Last Sunday Kluber went all nine innings, allowing just one run on three hits, while walking one and striking out ten. It was an amazing outing, but Kluber wasn't done just yet with the Twins.
This time out the big right-hander was even better, keeping the Twins off-balance all night. After a clean first inning, Miguel Sano drew a walk off of Kluber to start the second inning. Trevor Plouffe followed by grounding into a double play and the minimal threat was vanquished. The only true hiccup came in the fourth when Kluber's arch enemy Joe Mauer (apparently a holder of some Klubot kryptonite) smoked an elevated off-speed pitch to deep right center for a solo home run. That would be the Twins only hit, only run, and only baserunner for the rest of the game.
Kluber finished with seven strikeouts and earned his eighth win of the year. With the back-to-back dominant performances, Kluber likely has snuck back into the Cy Young discussion. His 2.59 FIP trails only Chris Sale (2.51) and Chris Archer (2.54), and Kluber shows no signs of slowing down.
The Tribe's offense did their part Friday night as well, combining for fourteen hits off of five Twins pitchers. Minnesota was forced to move right-hander Trevor May from the bullpen into the starting rotation after Phil Hughes' injury, and May was on a strict pitch count in his first start since July 3rd.
The Indians plated two in the second, thanks to a Giovanny Urshela homer to deep left center. May was pulled after just three innings, and the Tribe added another run in the fourth on a Mike Aviles RBI single. Three more runs in the sixth were the icing on the cake for the Indians, giving the club a 6-1 lead. Lonnie Chisenhall, Francisco Lindor, and Aviles all had three hits for the Tribe, while Abraham Almonte added a double and a triple.
Saturday evening's affair pits Josh Tomlin against Tyler Duffey. Tomlin is scheduled to be called up from Triple-A Columbus before the game to make his season debut. The 24 year old Duffey will be making just his second Major League start. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET.
Win Probability Chart
Source: FanGraphs
Roll Call
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