Indians right-hander Corey Kluber continued to receive little in the way of run support, but he took matters into his own hands by shutting out the Astros over 6 2/3 innings in a 2-0 victory at Progressive Field on Tuesday evening.
Kluber struck out seven and walked two, scattering five hits. He entered the game receiving just 2.33 runs of support per start, worst in baseball, and the number only dropped. Kluber rectified that by holding his opposition scoreless for the second time this season to pick up his first win since May 28.
“He had to work,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He was up a little bit, and he maybe didn’t have his best cutter of the year, but he really used his fastball really effectively — and he pitched in from the start. He was able to go away also, and that kind of opened the plate up.”
Astros rookie Vincent Velasquez supplied a valiant effort, but he was simply bested by his Cy Young Award-winning opponent. Velasquez gave up a two-out RBI double to David Murphy in the first and a solo homer to Michael Brantley in the sixth.
“The curveball was kind of slipping away from me a little bit and I had to get back at it and stay on top of things,” Velasquez said. “Surprisingly, the changeup was working very well. It’s just a matter of locating and executing pitches. Murphy did a great job of hitting that pitch. He’s a pull hitter. Like I said, things happen and he ended up pulling it over [right fielder Preston] Tucker’s head. And the changeup, Brantley just got a good piece of it. Things happen.”
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