The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
After a tough stretch, Kluber is back on track
Takeaways from Indians-Angels game Aug. 4 at Progressive Field:
• It is so rare when Corey Kluber isn’t dominant that when he does hit a rough stretch it’s like watching Superman crash into a tall building instead of leaping over it in a single bound.
Kluber hit one of those stretches from his last start in June, when he gave up six runs in 1 2/3 innings to the Cardinals, through a start against the Pirates on July 23 — his first start since getting an injection in his right knee on July 13. He gave up six home runs and 18 earned runs during the stretch of five starts. The Indians never panicked, and, of course, Kluber never panicked. All is right with “Klubot” again, who on Aug. 4 against the Los Angeles Angels looked like the defending Cy Young Award winner he is in his second straight start.
Kluber pitched a complete game three-hit shutout in the Indians 3-0 victory over the Angels. He is 14-6.
Prior to facing the Angels, Kluber allowed one run in 7 1/3 innings against the Tigers in an 8-1 Indians victory.
The Indians have their ace back.
• Indians manager Terry Francona had good news to report on injured catcher Yan Gomes.
Gomes left the game against the Angels on Aug. 3 with a sore right knee. He underwent an MRI on Aug. 4. The injury was diagnosed as right hamstring tendinitis.
“He’s not going to start for the next couple days, but he’s available,” Francona said. “If it lingers longer, he’d have to maybe think about the (disabled list), but the way it sits now, I don’t think we’ll have to do that.”
The injury has been bothering Gomes for a while, Francona said, but Gomes tried to fight through it.
Gomes would normally have caught the pitches thrown by Kluber Aug. 4, but Roberto Perez was behind the plate.
“I actually think it would be good for ‘Berto to know he’s going to play a couple days in a row,” Francona said.
Gomes gets the lion’s share of the work behind the plate. He has appeared in 79 games with 280 at-bats (.243 average, 11 homers, 35 RBI. Perez has played in 42 games with 123 at-bats.
• Another huge crowd (34,814) jammed into Progressive Field on Aug. 4 to watch the Indians and Angels on a perfect night for baseball — a cloudless sky and a game-time temperature of 82 degrees. It was the second consecutive sellout and seventh of the season.
The Indians went into the game ranked 21st in the major league in attendance with an average crowd of 23,642, about 700 fans a game behind the 20th-ranked Minnesota Twins.
Just three years ago, the Indians finished a dismal 29th in attendance with an average crowd of 17,806 — nearly 4,000 a game behind the Miami Marlins, who finished 28th.
Climbing eight spots in three seasons is an obvious reflection of the success the Indians have enjoyed under Francona. The Indians are in position to win their third straight American League Central Division title.
The Indians would be even higher on the attendance ladder if not for the miserable weather that kept attendance down in April, in which MLB scheduled 17 home games.
• Jason Kipnis is in another major slump. The Indians second baseman hit .266 in June, but went into Aug. 4 with three hits in 16 at-bats in the last seven days and seven hits in 36 at-bats in the last 14 days.
Kipnis was 0-for-2 against Angels starter Felix Pena, who entered the game 1-2 with a 5.23 ERA. Pena had a no-hitter through five innings until Leonys Martin broke it up with a home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Kipnis has played in 100 of the 109 games played by the Indians. Only third baseman Jose Ramirez and shortstop Francisco Lindor (each has missed only one game) have played in more.
The Indians don’t have many options other than to let Kipnis hit his way out of the slump. He was 4-for-22 in the ALDS vs. the Yankees last October. They will need more than that from him this fall.