Kluber's Dominance Gets Tribe Series Win Over Texas; Three Takeaways

After last weekend's sweep versus the Minnesota Twins, the Indians looked like they were stuck in a rut just as the Texas Rangers were coming to town to finish

After last weekend's sweep versus the Minnesota Twins, the Indians looked like they were stuck in a rut just as the Texas Rangers were coming to town to finish out a seven-game home stand.

Over the course of four days, however, the Tribe managed to right the ship to take a 3-1 series win over the Rangers with Thursday afternoon's 5-1 win.

After giving up a single run in the first inning, Corey Kluber put on a masterful eight-inning display to help the Tribe win the series before the club heads to Detroit to face the Tigers over the weekend.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

1. Corey KKKKKKKKKKKKluber

Post-DL, Kluber's dominance has continued at an impressive rate.

After giving up a two-strike homer to Nomar Mazara in the first inning, Kluber did not relinquish another run for the entire game.

Kluber ended the afternoon with 12 strikeouts, only giving up one run on three hits. He was so effective given the way he was able to expand the strike zone using his breaking ball, as evidenced by his pitch chart:

It's not hyperbolic to say that Kluber's performance this afternoon was one for the history books, and bear with me, because it's a lot to digest.

Today marked Kluber's 1,041 career strikeout. He's now tied for 10th place in club history with Luis Tiant in the career strikeouts category.

Today also marked his 30th career double-digit strikeout outing. It's his sixth in 2017, and his fourth straight game with double-digit strikeouts. The latter ties a club record with Bob Feller (set in the 1938-39 seasons) for most consecutive double-digit strikeout games ever.

Perhaps most impressive, since coming off the disabled list at the beginning of the month, Kluber has now struck out 64 batters in 43 innings with a 1.26 ERA.

2. Lonnie Chisenhall, The Pinch-Hitting Wonder

Chisenhall was once again instrumental as a pinch-hitter on Thursday. He came in during the sixth inning for Brandon Guyer, and rocked a two-run RBI double down the right field line to put the Indians up 5-1.

Lonnie Baseball now has nine RBIs and is batting .286 as a pinch-hitter this season. Per The Athletic's T.J. Zuppe, Chisenhall now has four hits in 14 at-bats as a pinch-hitter, and all have been for extra bases.

His nine RBIs in 2017 are the most in the American League and tied for the most in MLB with the Washington Nationals' Adam Lind.

Chisenhall has been on a roll as of late, with 19 RBIs over the last 16 games and 21 RBIs in the month of June.

3. Rebounding In The Second Half Of This Home Stand

After the weekend series against the Twins ended in the Indians being swept, it looked like fans were in for one long home stand.

That's why it's all the more impressive the way they bounced back against the Rangers to win this series 3-1.

They improved greatly in batting with runners in scoring position, going 20-0f-61 in the series against Texas compared to just 1-of-23 against the Twins.

The Indians also scored a total of 26 runs over the course of four days, compared to just two total runs against Minnesota.

Next, the Tribe heads to Detroit for four games over a three-day stretch. Minnesota plays Boston tonight, and with a Minnesota loss, the Tribe will be 1.5 games ahead of the Twins for first place in the AL Central.