Pirates Pound Kluber and Indians in Rain-Shortened Affair 7-0; Three Takeaways

CLEVELAND - Mother Nature made it a very short night when it came to actual baseball played at Progressive Field on Monday, but three rain delays and another

CLEVELAND - Mother Nature made it a very short night when it came to actual baseball played at Progressive Field on Monday, but three rain delays and another tough night for Indians ace Corey Kluber made it a long night for Indians fans as the Tribe was shutout by the Pirates 7-0 in a six-inning rain-shortened game.

Kluber, who is now 2-4 in his last seven outings, lasted just four innings, and while he wasn't helped by some shoddy defense in the second inning which gave Pittsburgh two extra outs, he gave up yet another back-breaking homer in falling to 12-6.

The Indians offense slept walked through the loss, as they managed just four hits off soft throwing Pirates starter Trevor Williams.

The win is the 10th straight for the Pirates, their longest win streak since the 2004 season.

Here's three takeaways for the setback, which drops the Indians to 54-45 on the season as they look to rebound on Tuesday with Shane Bieber coming back to the roster for the Tribe.

1. Ugly Night for the Indians Ace

Since the middle of June to say that Corey Kluber has been inconsistent is an understatement.

Just when it looks like he's back to his normal form of two Cy Young awards, he gets pounded like he did on Monday night, with the big blast in the latest setback being a three-run homer from Pirates second basemen Josh Harrison coming in the second inning with two outs.

No question that there was rust from Kluber after having 10 days off, but his fastball command simply wasn't there, as noted by the fact he managed just two strikeouts.

The team insists that the knee which he had a shot in over the All-Star break is not an issue, but no matter how you look at it the line score for Kluber Monday seems to indicate that he's not 100 percent and not pitching nearly as well as Indians fans have come to expect.

2. What Happened to the Offense?

The last two days have been days to forget for the Indians offense, as they haven't scored a run since putting up 16 runs in the win over Texas on Saturday night.

Monday it was Trevor Williams shutting down the Indians, as he used his changeup and breaking pitches to make quick work of the Tribe's offense.

The Indians offense managed just four hits, as Willilams was credited with his first career complete game and shutout.

The Tribe did load the bases in the 6th inning with one out in what ended up being the last inning of the night, and Yonder Alonso struck out and Mekly Cabrera grounded out to end the game.

The Indians also failed to record an extra-base hit and were shut out for the fifth time this season. While it was good to get a pair to start the second half in Texas, they overall have dropped 8 of 13.

3. A Five-Out Second inning

Bad things tend to happen when you give a team two extra outs, and more so a hot team like the Pirates who have now won 10 straight games.

That's what the Indians did in the second inning, as they first failed to turn a double play, and then committed an awful error when a pop up in the infield dropped when Yonder Alonso and Jose Ramirez both let the ball drop.

The two mistakes cost the team dearly, as Corey Kluber served up a three-run homer, coming with two outs on an 0-2 count to Josh Harrison that made it a 3-0 game at the time.

The inning continued to go South as the Pirates added another run to make it 4-0.

By then the way the Indians were not hitting the ball against Trevor Williams, the four runs might as well have been 50.

Defense has been an issue at times all season, and Monday the lack of focus cost them yet again.