The Indians close out their four-game series with the Royals before they head out west to take on the Giants and the Angels.  Bruce Chen matches up with Corey Kluber in this afternoon’s matinee game.  Chen has struggled so far this season, but he was lights-out against the Indians last year – 1.04 ERA as the Indians hit just .172/.231/.207.  Kluber had a “meh” outing last Saturday against Toronto, but since the Indians got shut out 5-0 it’s not like they were going to win anyway.  (You don’t win many games scoring 0 runs).  Kluber had some success against the Royals last season, as they hit just .217/.284/.348 off him as he went 2-0 with a 3.28 ERA.

12 Comments

  • Gvl Steve says:

    I don’t think we’ve even scored a run off Chen in two years, so if we can win today I’ll be a Belieber.

  • Swift says:

    We didn’t score a run off Chen – we scored 5! Nice going guys.

    Kluber looks good so far

  • Cale says:

    Is that the biggest inning they’ve had all year? Last night I was trying to remember if they’d scored more than 3 in an inning yet.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    Definition of less-than-worthless. O-3 with 3 strikeouts, one thrown bat, and an error to blow the shutout for Kluber. Nice game pretty boy.

    • The Doctor says:

      his “step to the side and swipe with the glove” move sure looks fancy when it works, but i don’t understand how he’s made it this long in the league without someone getting on his case about the fact that he never puts his body in front of the ball. if he’d simply gotten in front of that one, it would have been at least 1 out.

    • Cale says:

      Just when I thought he was starting to swing it a little better. He had been 6-15 with 2 BB over the past 4 games.

  • The Doctor says:

    wow, kluber was absolutely dealing today. and how murphy manages to get so many hits just flinging the bat head out there, i’ll never understand.

    • Goose says:

      Considering the pitching we’ve been subjected to this season, that was an absolute gem I’ll be thankful for all week.

  • mondo dentro says:

    Kluber was terrific today. A 101 pitch complete game, 11 strike outs with 0 walks and 0 earned runs. Wow, did the bullpen need that.

    I just listen online, so maybe I miss a lot, but overall the team play seemed more solid than it has been (except for that Swisher error), and the hitting was more timely and better distributed. Let’s hope it’s the start of a trend. Then again, Carrasco is pitching tomorrow…

  • JimM. says:

    defacto best game of Kluber’s career against a very good royals team that we ended up taking 3 of 4 from.

    with all that said the most exciting thing was the indians got 10k to ballpark. that has to be some sort of record for us.