Corey Kluber Destroys St. Louis With 18 Strikeouts

Photo © Jason Miller/Getty Images.

Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians have been having a bit of a rough season. The Indians started off 12-20 under manager Terry Francona.

On top of this, Kluber, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, has had a rough start: 0-5 record and above five ERA going into yesterday’s game. But with the way Corey pitched against the Cardinals — one of the best hitting teams in the MLB — you would not have guessed he was struggling.

He struck out 18 batters — the last pitcher to do this was Ben Sheets in 2004 and Kluber was the first in the AL to accomplish this since Roger Clemens in 1998 — and did not give up a hit until the seventh inning: Jhonny Peralta broke up the no-hitter with a hit down the middle.

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When he was taken out before the ninth inning — he had already thrown 113 pitches — he was given a warm ovation by a rowdy Cleveland crowd. Luckily, closer Cody Allen was able to further shutdown St. Louis, securing Kluber’s 2-0 win, which is the first of the season for him.

In the end, when asked about throwing one of the best games in MLB history — Kluber’s game score was 98, with only 11 pitchers, like hall of famers Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson, ahead of him — he shrugged it off. He was happy to be in consideration with some of the greatest pitchers of all-time, but a win is more important.