CLEVELAND: Corey Kluber pulled off a couple of magic tricks to escape some dire situations, but Anibal Sanchez’s attempt went horribly wrong and the Indians topped the Tigers 4-0 Wednesday night.
Kluber tossed a shutout, the second of his career, mirroring his normal ace-level outing. But early on, he had to work out of two jams in which the Tigers seemed poised to take the lead and pile on like they had done so many times in previous years.
The first act came in the second inning. Nick Castellanos singled and Kluber lost control of the zone, walking the next two batters on four pitches each to load the bases with one out. He then induced a fielder’s choice out on a broken-bat ground ball by Jose Iglesias and struck out Ian Kinsler to end the inning.
After an intermission in the third inning, act two came in the fourth. Justin Upton doubled to center field on a ball Tyler Naquin couldn’t corral at the wall and Castellanos singled to right field to put runners on the corners with no outs.
Once again, Kluber escaped. He induced a 5-4-3 double play in which Upton didn’t break for home and then struck out Anthony Gose to keep it a scoreless 0-0 tie.
Sanchez (3-3, 5.87) attempted to do the same in the bottom half of the fourth, but if it were an actual attempted magic trick, the audience would have likely left with some unwanted, gory images. Instead of escaping, Sanchez was battered around for four runs, as the Indians (12-12) did all of their damage in one inning.
Carlos Santana walked to open the fourth. With one out, Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. He was looked at by Indians trainers but remained in the game. Michael Brantley followed with an RBI single to right field, the second consecutive night he collected a run-scoring hit.
Mike Napoli drove a double over the head of Gose in center field to score Lindor. A wild pitch then extended the Indians’ lead to 3-0, and Yan Gomes doubled to the corner in right field to make it 4-0.
Kluber (2-3, 3.35) finished with five hits and two walks allowed and seven strikeouts. After the troublesome fourth inning, he allowed only one base runner in the final five innings.
This was the Indians’ fifth consecutive win over the Tigers (14-12) this season, the longest such streak since 2012. The Indians have also taken 10 of the last 12 games dating back to last season.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ