With the calendar freshly flipped to September and their late August ascent up the standings at their back, the Indians had their ace on the mound as they opened a crucial four-game series with the Tigers, who are ahead of them in the standings, on Monday. But Corey Kluber watched three of his pitches fly over the wall and exited after getting only eight outs.
The middle of the Tigers’ order slugged Kluber out of the game in 2 2/3 innings and eventually roughed up the Tribe’s bullpen as Detroit coasted to a 12-1 Labor Day victory at Progressive Field.
Kluber’s shortest outing of a standout season snapped the Tribe’s three-game winning streak and put the Indians four games behind the Tigers, who hold the second American League Wild Card spot.
An eye-popping matchup on paper, Kluber was off his game in David Price’s first start against the Indians since he was traded to the Tigers. The Blue Angels were in Cleveland for an air show on the holiday, flying boisterously over the ballpark on numerous occasions. The Tigers, meanwhile, put on their own air show against Kluber.
Miguel Cabrera got Detroit on the board in the first inning by lining a changeup just over the left-field wall. Ian Kinsler, who led off the game with a triple to right field, scored on the shot, spotting Price two runs before he took the mound.
Cabrera also added a solo homer in the eighth after not going yard since Aug. 2, and he was part of the rally that ended Kluber’s afternoon in the third inning.
In the third, the reigning AL MVP sent a fly ball to right field which hit the glove of Mike Aviles, who misread the ball off the bat, and fell in for a two-out single. Kluber got ahead of the next batter, Victor Martinez, 0-2. However, the former Indian clubbed a sinker to right-center field, doubling the Tigers’ run total.
“He actually got ahead of Victor, 0-2, and tried to climb the ladder to either get him to chase or set up the next pitch,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Victor went up and got it.”
Kluber also got ahead of the next batter, J.D. Martinez, before Martinez hit a 2-2 sinker out for a solo shot. Nick Castellanos followed with a single and sent Kluber slowly to the dugout.
“They’re good hitters, and if you make mistakes to them, they usually take advantage of it,” Kluber said.
The three home runs were the most the right-hander’s allowed in a start, and he gave up five earned runs for just the second time this season — the first coming in his initial outing of 2014 on April 2. Kluber’s first start of the season was also the only other time he was unable to strike out more than two batters. He entered Monday third in the Majors in punchouts (213), but added just a pair to that total.
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