Cleveland Indians: Corey Kluber continues streak of great starting pitching

Apr 3, 2017; Arlington, TX, USA; Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber (28) in action during the game against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Indians defeat the Rangers 8-5. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 3, 2017; Arlington, TX, USA; Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber (28) in action during the game against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Indians defeat the Rangers 8-5. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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Corey Kluber had a great outing Friday night, continuing the recent streak of great starts from Cleveland Indians starting pitchers.

Cleveland Indians fans have looked at the offense this year when getting frustrated about how some games have been lost. But the starting pitching did not have a great start to the season either.

Corey Kluber is included in this, as he entered Friday night’s start with an ERA of 6.38. A complete-game shutout helped lower that mark.

Kluber was lights out for the Indians on Friday, only allowing three hits and striking out nine to give the team its fourth straight win.

This great start came after both Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer had their best starts of the season, and looks to be a sign that the starting rotation is beginning to settle in and get the early-season problems out of the way.

Kluber didn’t have a horrible start to the year. He picked up a win last Saturday, but that was in a game when the offense put up 13 runs, making the six Kluber allowed irrelevant.

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But starts like the one on Friday night have been what Indians fans have been expecting from Kluber, and it is nice to see him pick up such a dominant win so early in the season.

The Indians are going to need Kluber to be great once again if the team is going to make another postseason run, and he showed he has no signs of slowing down with the shutout.

He made White Sox hitters look foolish all night, and it is now up to Carlos Carrasco to keep the string of great starts going.

Carrasco has arguably been the team’s best pitcher thus far, which is why it has been so exciting to see the rest of the group heat up over the past few days.

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Great starting pitching means the offense isn’t relied upon to put up big numbers every day, and the team can still win games by putting up just three runs, as they did last night. It keeps the hitters from pressing and also gives them confidence that a bad at-bat won’t doom the team, hopefully easing the stress and increasing the positive results.