Cleveland Indians fall to Giants, but Corey Kluber looks sharp

Corey Kluber pitched in his first Cactus League game of 2016 this afternoon in Goodyear, taking on the San Francisco Giants. He did very well, flying through two innings of work without allowing anyone to reach base, or even hit the ball out of the infield, recording three strikeouts along the way, and needing only 18 pitches to get through the two frames. (Sadly, Terry Francona chose not to let Kluber go for the Maddux.)

Josh Tomlin was not as sharp during his two innings, allowing two runs on four hits, though he did keep the ball in the park. Tomlin was followed by a fellow competitor for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, T.J. House, who tossed two hitless innings, striking out one.

Offensively, the Tribe was led today by Carlos Santana, who had two hits, including a double. Yan Gomes, Tyler Naquin, and Giovanny Urshela also each doubled. With four walks on the and that many extra-base hits, one might think the Indians scored a number of runs. Well, two is a number, so I suppose the Indians did score a number of runs, but not a very impressive number. The Tribe is yet to win a game, which would be concerning if a team's record during the first week of spring training had any correlation with its regular season performance, but such correlation does not exist, so we need not worry.

Instead, bask in the warmth of Corey Kluber looking sharp. Here he is, discussing his outing:

"Work ahead and pound the strike zone." Mission accomplished.