Recap: Kluber and Indians Pitching Makes History, Indians jump out early and beat White Sox; Three Takeaways from 5-3 Victory.

CLEVELAND, Ohio- On Tuesday evening, the Cleveland Indians took on the Chicago White Sox in what was game one of a three-game series concluding on Thursday

CLEVELAND, Ohio- On Tuesday evening, the Cleveland Indians took on the Chicago White Sox in what was game one of a three-game series concluding on Thursday evening.

The Cleveland Indians are coming off of a weekend series against the Detroit Tigers where they dropped two of three games, but on Saturday the team clinched the AL Central and officially will be playing baseball in October.

Heading into Tuesday evening’s match up the Indians came in with a record of 83-66. The White Sox came in with a record of 59-90.

Following the Indians 5-3 victory over the White Sox, the Indians advance to 84-66 on the season. As the White Sox fall to 59-91 on the year.

Here’s our three takeaways from the Indians 5-3 victory.

1.) Corey Kluber dominates the AL Central

On Tuesday night, Corey Kluber earned his career-best 19th win of the season. Kluber became the first Indians pitcher since Cliff Lee to have 19 or more victories in a season, Lee went on to have a record of 22-3 in 2008. Kluber improved to 10-2 with an ERA of 2.45 in 13 starts against AL Central opponents as well.

Kluber pitched 8 innings, gave up 8 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts, and allowed two homers on 107 pitches.

Kluber in the fifth inning also threw his 200th strikeouts of the 2018 season, which is now his fifth consecutive season of 200 or more strikeouts, Kluber trails Sam McDowell with six consecutive. Kluber is the only pitcher in Indians franchise history with 200+ strikeouts and 200+ innings pitched in 5 consecutive seasons. Back to Kluber and Indians pitching later on.

2.) Melk Man Always Delivers

Melky Cabrera put the Indians ahead in the second inning with an RBI double. Cabrera has been a huge bright spot in the Indians outfield since having outfielders such as Tyler Naquin, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Leonys Martin go down this year.

Melky has batted .330 with runners on base this season which leads the Indians and was tied 5th in the American League heading into play tonight. Cabrera has had 8 of his 35 RBIs driven in against the White Sox.

Since rejoining the Indians on July 21, he has hit .301 (47-156) which is the second highest batting average in that time span behind Michael Brantley, who is hitting .313 (57-182).

3.) Indians Pitching Making History

As mentioned in previous slides, Kluber accumulated his 200th strikeout of the 2018 season. Kluber joined Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer to reach the 200+ strikeout mark.

The trio of Kluber, Carrasco, and Bauer are the first trio in Indians history to have 200 plus strikeouts in a single season; and the fourth trio in MLB history to reach that mark. The last team to accomplish that was the 2013 Detroit Tigers who had a trio of Anibal Sanchez, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander.

Kluber is also the second pitcher in MLB history to reach 1400 strikeouts within his first 200 career games, Randy Johnson has done it the quickest with 196 career games.

The Indians will be looking to lock a series victory Wednesday night when they send Carlos Carrasco to the hill against Dylan Covey.