The Indians beat the Rockies 5-2. Asdrubal homered. Chisenhall stayed hot. Kipnis picked up two hits in the second game back.

Now let’s get to what really matters: Corey. Freaking. Kluber.

I don’t even know how to adequately sum up the dominance of Kluber in recent weeks, so let’s just rattle of a bunch of ridiculous stats that put his season into perspective.

  • Since 1990, only Kluber, Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Kerry Wood have struck out 60 batters in the month of May.
  • Kluber joins Schilling, Martinez, Johnson, Roger Clemens and Kevin Brown as the only pitchers since 1990 with 60 strikeouts and fewer than 10 walks in any calendar month.
  • Dating back to 1980, only Kluber, Bartolo Colon, Len Barker and Greg Swindell have had multiple games with 12 or more strikeouts—and both of Klubers came in the last month.
  • Since 1980, only nine Indians pitchers have struck out at least 100 batters before the All-Star Break. Kluber already has 95 before the calendar turns to June.
  • Kluber has struck out eight or more in six straight games, tying the third longest streak in franchise history. Along with Kluber, only Bob Feller, Sam McDowell and Herb Score have had at least six straight games with eight or more strikeouts.
  • Kluber’s 95 strikeouts through the Indians first 55 games are the most since Gaylord Perry had 100 in 1972.

It’s hard to believe this is a guy the Indians picked up in exchange for an aging and recently-injured Jake Westbrook.

8 Comments

  • Jimbo says:

    I was a fan of Kluber last year, and thought he was rather underappreciated. I hoped he would continue to develop this year and perhaps makes us forget about Ubaldo. But I never saw this coming at all!!

  • Sean Porter says:

    Two years ago, was Kluber even a fringe prospect? It almost feels like he came out of nowhere, like he’s our pitching Roy Hobbs.

  • Adam Hintz says:

    Kluber is love. Kluber is life.

  • CassvilleJacket says:

    Kluber’s dominance when compared with Masterson’s performance makes those preseason contract demands seem even more ludicrous.

  • Jack Glasscock's Cup says:

    I wonder if a deal buying out his arbitration years and one or two of his free agent years is on the horizon. Obviously, if the team thinks his surge will continue, they’ll do everything they can to sign him, because he’ll get expensive really quickly.

  • D.P. Roberts says:

    And on the other side of the coin, Danny Salazar lost again in Columbus last night. He’s now 0-3, having pitched only 12.2 innings in 3 starts. Over that span, he has given up 10 runs on 21 hits, and has an ERA of 7.11. At AAA.

    Before this season started, I hoped that Kluber would have a great year, and I was a little afraid that Salazar wouldn’t be a little worse. But I had no idea the extremes that these two guys would go to – they are now headed in completely opposite directions.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    Salazar is Jaret Wright. He got rushed to the majors very early because he could blow people away with a 98-MPH fastball. Now that fastball is 93-94 and the lack of secondary pitches and fastball command has caught up to him. Either he learns how to pitch now or you’ll never see him in Cleveland again.

  • Cale says:

    I will admit, I was a little skeptical of Kluber coming into the season since he blew away expectations last year. Career minor league numbers of 44-50, 4.42 ERA, 1.4 WHIP, and 3.6 BB/9, I was worried last year was kind of a fluke. I’m glad to see I was wrong.