Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kluber back on mound, looks ‘good’
2-time Cy Young winner makes 1st spring start
Corey Kluber faced major league hitters for the first time in 10 months — in a new uniform, no less — and said he didn’t feel any different.
“Maybe a little bit beforehand,” the Rangers right-hander said Sunday after throwing three innings against the Dodgers. “But once you get out there and start stretching, playing catch, getting loose in the bullpen, all that stuff kinda goes away.
“It just turns into another start, whether it’s the regular season or spring training. That’s kind of how everything usually goes for me.“
It was Kluber’s first time facing a major league lineup since May 1 with the Indians, when the Marlins’ Brian Anderson hit a line drive off his pitching arm and broke it.
Kluber then injured an oblique during a rehab assignment, which ended his season — and it turned out, his time with the Indians, who traded him to Texas this offseason.
The cool-headed Kluber allowed two runs and two hits Sunday, including a home run to Enrique Hernandez. The 34-year-old also walked two and struck out four.
“The way I would judge a spring training start is, how well I’m able to execute pitches, get the ball where I want, avoid hard contact, which I think I did pretty well for the most part aside from the home run,” Kluber said.
An infield hit and two walks put him in trouble in the first, but the Dodgers managed only one run in that inning, on a softly hit ground ball.
“Really good,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “I felt like he was spot-on. Balls were moving all over the place, back-door sinkers, front-door sinkers, cutters, his command was good.
“He’s always going like he has something to prove out there.”
The Indians picked up the $13.5 million option on Kluber’s contract this offseason, but then shipped him to the Rangers in December for veteran outfielder Delino DeShields and relief pitching prospect Emmanuel Clase in an effort to cut payroll.
The Rangers have a $14 million team option to keep the pitcher in 2021, or they can buy out Kluber for $1 million. They’re hoping he can return to the way he was from 2014-18, when he was one of baseball’s top pitchers.
Kluber won AL Cy Young Awards in 2014 and 2017, posting a 2.85 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 160 starts with the Indians.
Sale faces live batters: It was just a batting practice session, one of the lowest spring training rungs in a pitcher’s preparation for opening day. But for Chris Sale, it was progress.
Even after finishing with a fastball that a Triple-A prospect who batted .204 last year managed to hit over the fence Sunday morning in Fort Myers, Fla., Sale and the Red Sox were pleased.
“Let’s end on that one,” Sale said, laughing, as he walked off the mound.
The last time Sale faced hitters was Aug. 13, when he gave up five runs with 12 strikeouts over 62⁄3 innings in a win against the Indians.
The left-hander was put on the injured list after that with elbow inflammation, ending his season at 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA in 25 starts.
Sale will start this season on the IL after reporting to camp with pneumonia, setting him back by about two weeks. He didn’t speak to reporters after pitching batting practice.
A month shy of turning 31, Sale was an All-Star seven straight years and got the final out of the 2018 World Series.
Strong debut for deGrom: Mets ace Jacob deGrom took on two nemeses in his first outing of spring training — a bout of nerves, and the Nationals.
The two-time reigning NL Cy Young winner got the best of both.
“Any time I take the mound, I’m nervous,” the 31-year-old deGrom said after throwing three scoreless innings in a 3-1 win Sunday.
DeGrom cruised on just 33 pitches, striking out two and allowing one hit against the defending World Series champs