Kluber, Indians start fast
Perez’ 2 homers fuel win
CLEVELAND — Now the Cubs understand what the Red Sox and the Blue Jays know all too well.
The 2016 Indians and their brutally effective pitching staff do not take kindly to visitors — especially teams that arrive as favorites and are known for their potent offenses.
In Game 1 of the World Series last night, the Indians, led by starter Corey Kluber and then the nasty bullpen duo of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, rather easily held back the best regular-season team in baseball with the most potent lineup in the National League, 6-0, to take the early lead in the battle of the drought-busters — 68 years for the Tribe, 108 for the Cubs.
Roberto Perez led the Cleveland offense with two home runs and four RBI.
With nine strikeouts (and no walks) from Kluber — his eight strikeouts in the first three innings established a World Series record — and six more split evenly between Miller and Allen, the Indians simply blew past the Cubs, who managed seven hits.
Like the Red Sox (.214 as a team in the Division Series, scoring seven times in three games) and the Blue Jays (.201 in the ALCS, scoring eight times in five games), the Cubs learned the hard way how good this Cleveland pitching staff is.
“It’s the World Series. They’re the best team in the National League, you expect them to be deep,” Miller said. “We saw two lineups that are pretty deep in their own right getting here, so it’s not going to be easy. It’s just not the case at this point. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got to find the way.”
Perez, who had three homers all season, hit his second and third of the postseason.
Kluber dominated in six-plus scoreless innings, allowing four hits while walking none and striking out the nine. Kluber might be asked to start two more games in this Series, possibly Games 4 and 7.
“I’ll pitch whenever (Cleveland manager Terry Francona) asks me to. I think at this point in time it’s all about doing whatever we can to get four wins before they do,” Kluber said. “If that means pitching on short rest, then I’m more than willing to do that. I don’t think you’d find anybody who would turn down a chance to go out there and pitch right now.”
Kluber was expected to be very good.
So was Cubs starter Jon Lester, except he was not.
Struggling with control, Lester surrendered three runs on six hits in 52⁄ innings, 3 with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Miller was rusty after the lengthy layoff since the Indians topped Toronto on Oct. 19. He needed 46 pitches, but like after Game 1 against the Red Sox, when he threw 40 and was back out there the next night, Miller expects to be back when needed, like Kluber.
“I’m available. No question, I’ll be ready – the most we can play is six more games, and I’ll find a way to be a part of them,” Miller said. “I’d like to be sharper.”
That’s the kind of mindset and news Indians fans want to hear.
They will throw Trevor Bauer against Jake Arrieta in Game 2 tonight. First pitch was moved one hour earlier (7:08) because of rain in the forecast.
“We have a lot of different looks — Trevor’s a competitor, moves the ball all over the place, similar to Corey,” Miller said. “We really like the plans we put together, we like the guys we have on the mound, we have guys with good stuff who aren’t scared, and we’re going to take our chances against anybody.”