MLB Daily: Corey K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-Kluber
By Jason Lisk
Kluber did also hit Matt Holliday on the elbow, knocking him out of the game, probably prompting the retaliatory HBP that then got Cleveland manager Terry Francona ejected, forcing Francona to miss seeing the gem of a pitching performance from one of the best seats available.
Kluber is a joy to watch when he is on. Mechanically, he is pretty pure, no wild movement, good balance, and he can look like a machine. On Wednesday, that machine was churning out Cardinals.
To my untrained eye, more than half of those strikeouts came on his two-seam fastball, both swinging and watching, including many in the middle innings when he was rolling, with most of the others coming on his devastating curve/breaking pitch. (One of the early ones might have been on a change up, hard to tell because the speed was slowed down in the highlight reel above). According to Fangraphs, hitters were making contact on 95.7% of Kluber’s two-seam fastballs (categorized as a sinking fastball) in the strike zone this year. Guessing that number is going down after this one.
His fastball and curve compliment perfectly when he is on, and that was the case last night. He became the first pitcher to strikeout 18 in a game since 2004 (Ben Sheets), the most by an Indians pitcher since Luis Tiant and Bob Feller, and the only other pitcher, besides Kerry Wood in 1998, to strikeout 18 without walking a batter and while giving up only one hit.
There was a brief controversy when Kluber did not come out for the top of the ninth, as he was pretty efficient in getting through those innings with only 113 pitches. Oh well. We’ll save the pitch count discussion for a different day. Let’s just savor a masterpiece.
Jeff Francoeur With the Throw-Off Win: Jeff Francoeur is still doing baseball things. He is a great guy who gets on base less than 25% of the time over the last three years, is a joy to be around in the clubhouse, and has a cannon for an arm.
Steve Lombardozzi got to third as the tying run when Jonathan Papelbon went with the Jon Lester pickoff play. I know Lombardozzi isn’t the fastest, but this was ridiculous from Francoeur, running into foul territory and turning to fire it on a line to home. Out in a bang (taps foot for 3 seconds) bang play.
Cubs Win on the Walk-Off Walk: While the home plate putout might be one of the most exciting ways to end the game, the Cubs are happy to take another close one in less exciting fashion. Nothing like watching five infielders walk sullenly off the field after Jeurys Familia could not throw a “hope and pray” strike on a 3-1 count to Chris Coghlan with the bases loaded.
That ended a game that had been 1-1 going to the ninth. Yes, Matt Harvey pitched another gem, but pretty sure he still doesn’t have more wins than the Knicks. Just sayin’.
Mike Trout Does Mike Trout Things: Would anyone recognize Mike Trout in a supermarket? Probably, especially if he was climbing the cereal aisle to pull one back, or crunching a deep drive over the seafood department.
Throwback Thursday–He’s Still Playing? In honor of Jeff Francoeur, who I knew was still hanging around, I thought I would run down the current rosters and highlight other guys that you might have assumed were now living on a farm, and always get me to utter, “he’s still playing?”
Aramis Ramirez (Brewers): I remember having him in a 1998 NL-only fantasy league on AOL. True story.
Willie Bloomquist (Mariners): pretty sure he has an incentive-laden contract with the devil.
LaTroy Hawkins (Rockies): Hawkins’ first ever appearance came in the first week that baseball came back from The Strike. Hitters that were in the Baltimore lineup that he faced that day include Cal Ripken, Harold Baines, and Andy Van Slyke.
Oliver Perez (Diamondbacks): This one truly caught me off guard. It has been five years since Perez started a MLB game. If you ever want evidence that being left-handed as a pitcher can help you linger, I give you Oliver Perez and his career page.
Roberto Hernandez (Astros): Man, I remember when that guy used to close for the White Sox. I once chatted with he, Lyle Mouton, and Frank Thomas at a Kansas City bar back in the 90’s. I tell you, some of … never mind, that dude’s 50. This is the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona. He’s still around? Seems like he aged overnight.
This & That: Confirmed: Drew Smyly out for rest of the year with a torn labrum … this illegal shift is something that is necessary in little league, where half the runs score on wild pitches … How good of a year is Bryce Harper having? He gets ejected and his replacement channels him and hits a grand slam … Dee Gordon had 4 hits and some sweet shoes.