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Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber entered today’s game against the Chicago White Sox having issued only one walk in May.
That number remained the same by the end of his outing today, as Kluber went six innings while striking out 10. He was as good as advertised.
Commentator Steve Stone mentioned how Kluber used all quadrants of the strike zone to his advantage. Stone said that Kluber’s cutter appears to be heading out of the strike zone upon release but slowly drifts back toward the zone, making it close to unhittable.
Lucas Giolito threw strikes in yesterday’s game, but missed his spots in those quadrants and it cost him. In other words, Giolito’s results were nothing like what Kluber showed today.
On the other side, today’s White Sox starter, Reynaldo Lopez, was not his normal self. He did not miss many bats, going just 2 2⁄3 innings while giving up seven earned runs on eight hits and a walk. His ERA rose to 3.80, but his FIP actually dropped to 4.61, an indication that he didn’t induce much hard contact off the bat.
The defense behind López wasn’t great, either. Tell your children to turn away from the TV when a ball is hit toward Daniel Palka. The man has a respectable bat, but my goodness ... the Sox have their own defensive Kyle Schwarber.
Regardless, with the stuff López has, he should be missing more bats than he did today, generating only two strikeouts.
Chris Volstad relieved Lopez and got shelled. He gave up home runs to Jose Ramirez and Edwin Encarnacion and got a quick pull after that.
You know how the offense went, so no need to go into too much detail. Tim Anderson was good today, with two doubles. He finished the road trip going 9-for-20 with four home runs and eight RBI. Good work, Timmy.
Yolmer Sanchez added a solo shot in the ninth inning, to avoid the shutout.
The Sox drop to (*shields eyes*) 16-37, which is the worst start in White Sox history through 53 games by a full two games. They begin a three-game series against the other first-place, Central Division team, the NL’s Milwaukee Brewers, on Friday.