Kluber, Tribe shut down Rays

Associated Press

cleveland

Corey Kluber knew exactly what to do after one of the worst outings of his career.

“When that one’s over you flush it and move on to the next one,” he said after throwing a three-hitter as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-0 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.

Kluber (7-7) bounced back from allowing a career-high eight runs and nine hits over five innings in Kansas City last Wednesday.

He took a one-hitter into the ninth against the Rays before Brad Miller and Evan Longoria singled with one out, but retired the final two hitters for his third career shutout.

Kluber, who struck out nine and walked two, felt strong when he went out for the ninth to finish his third complete game of the season, throwing 115 pitches.

“Until Tito (manager Terry Francona) tells me I’m done, I try to keep the mindset that I’m going to keep going back out there,” he said. “I don’t know what my pitch count was but I wasn’t really concerned with it.”

Rays manager Kevin Cash was Cleveland’s bullpen coach for two seasons, including 2014 when Kluber won the AL Cy Young Award.

“Corey Kluber is pretty good, to say the least,” Cash said. “Stating the obvious, he really had it going. There’s not much to say after that because it was a quiet night with the bats.”