Cleveland Indians Get a Gem From Kluber But Still Lose

Kluber pitches gem as Indians come up short in pitcher’s duel

The Cleveland Indians keep getting stellar pitching performances, unfortunately for Corey Kluber it wasn’t enough against the Chicago Cubs. After flirting with another no-hitter, Kluber allowed just one run on and RBI triple from Anthony Rizzo of the glove of a diving Jerry Sands. His duel with Jon Lester proved to be epic. On a day when the wind was gusting out of Wrigley Field, both pitched like aces and kept the ball in the park.

After Carlos Santana came up with a clutch RBI single in the top of the ninth to tie the game at one, the Tribe turned to hard-throwing Zach McAllister to push it to extra innings. After retiring the first two, Cubs’ rookie Kris Bryant sent the first pitch into the right field bleachers for the walk-off win. It was another fine pitching performance spoiled by a lack of offense. But in their defense, Lester has been pitching well as of late. Just one of those games.

As the Cubs celebrated, the Indians could look across the diamond and realize they aren’t that much different. The Cubs have worked to build depth in their system, avoided big contracts until this past winter, and focused on the youth movement. The Indians already have a solid pitching staff in place, and the youth is coming up. While they might not have the upper-tier of talent the Cubs have, they do have depth. With a generally limited payroll, it may be time for the Tribe to embrace the youth movement as well.

These and other stories you may have missed

‘Cubs walk-off against Indians for fifth straight win’ – MLB.com

‘Indians get a first-hand look at what their future could be’ – Wahoo’s on First

‘Braden catches a fly ball, while on an inflatable flamingo’ – Cut4

‘Relationship between spending and winning remains low’ – FanGraphs

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