Kluber Carves Up the Yankees as Indians Top New York 5-1; Three Takeaways From the Win

CLEVELAND - With a crowd of nearly 30,000 on hand at Progressive Field, the Indians got their six-game homestand off to a perfect start, with Corey Kluber outpitching new Yankees starter Sonny Gray in a Tribe 5-1 win.

Kluber was his usual dominant self, allowing just one run on a Gary Sanchez homer, and striking out 11 in going the distance for his 9th win of 2017.

The offense got some help from the Yankees defense in the first, as they committed three errors to allow the Tribe to build a 2-0 lead off Gray.

Frankie Lindor cemented the game in the 7th with a solo homer to make it a 5-1 game after Sanchez cut into the Cleveland lead with a solo shot in the top of the frame.

Game two of the big four game set is set for 7:10pm on Friday. For now, here's three takeaways from the Indians 58th win of 2017.

3. Kluber on Fire

There was no doubt that Corey Kluber had some of his best stuff of the season on Thursday night, and the fact that he did a lot of it with his four seamer, a pitch he hadn't used a ton in 2017, makes it that much more impressive.

He kept the Yankees off guard, and was able to get them to swing and miss quite a bit, striking out 11 and only allowing three hits on the night.

As Yankees manager Joe Girardi put it, if you see a pitch from Kluber you can hit, you had better, because you are not going to get many chances.

Kluber didn't get the Yanks many chances, as he once again dominated the pin stripes, as he's now 4-1 against New York with a 1.71 ERA.

It was also a night of records for Kluber, as he moved past Gary Bell for 8th place all-time on the Indians strikeout list with now 1,108 for his career.

He also has struck out at least 8 batters in 12 consecutive starts, joining only three other players - Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez on that list.

2. Just What the Doctor Ordered

The Indians bullpen going into Wednesday's game in Boston was fried, as the arms of guys like Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen all needed a break.

They got it in a big way. First the rain out which at this time of the season isn't the worst thing in the world, and then Thursday they got a 9 inning complete game for their ace, helping again the arms in the pen to catch a break.

With Miller on the DL and Terry Francona having to deal with that for the first time since he was traded here last July, he will have to make some adjustments once a game comes and they would normally go to Miller in that particular situation.

That situation never came close on Thursday, as Kluber went 106 pitches, and lasted the distance with at times looking like he wasn't breaking a sweat.

Now that the pen has had the last two nights of with the rain out and complete game, all hands should be back on deck if needed with Trevor Bauer set for Friday and Danny Salazar on Saturday.

1. Big Hit Gomer

With the Indians taking advantage of three Yankees mistakes in the first with two runs, they still were not out of the woods as they really could have used some insurance runs off Sonny Gray, and those runs came in the critical 6th inning.

With two outs, they got base runners on with Carlos Santana and Brandon Guyer, and then Yan Gomes delivered the big hit of the night, a two-run double that brought both Santana and Guyer in to make it a 4-0 game.

The big hit gave the Indians the breathing room they would need, and despite a Gary Sanchez solo homer in the 7th for New York, the game was really never in doubt with the Tribe putting up another run on a Francisco Lindor homer in the 7th to cement the win.

It's good to see Gomes getting hot at home, as in his last four games at Progressive Field he's hitting .385, going 5-for-13 in that stretch with two doubles, and five runs batted in.

If the Indians can get some type of production from the bottom of their lineup as they did tonight, they will be in great shape for the meat grinder slate they have in the month of August.

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