Cleveland Baseball Insider

Indians get their 14th shutout win of the year in 3-0 victory over Rays; three takeaways

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians earned their American League best 14th shutout victory on Friday night with a 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Corey Kluber

Ashley Bastock

Indians get their 14th shutout win of the year in 3-0 victory over Rays; three takeaways
Indians get their 14th shutout win of the year in 3-0 victory over Rays; three takeaways /

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians earned their American League best 14th shutout victory on Friday night with a 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Corey Kluber earned his 17th win of the season, pitching seven shutout innings in which he relinquished just two hits. Kluber’s start was the Tribe’s 16th start this season of at least seven scoreless innings, the most in Major League Baseball.

Cleveland had to battle with Tampa Bay starter Tyler Glasnow through seven innings. They eventually got on the board in his final frame with an Edwin Encarnacion solo homer.

The Indians' magic number to clinch the AL Central is 15 games.

Here are three takeaways from Friday's win.

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1. Kluber deals

Corey Kluber bounced back nicely from his loss against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.

On Friday night, the reigning Cy Young winner went seven shutout innings and gave up just two hits and two walks while striking out eight batters.

After giving up a lead-off single to start the game to Joey Wendle and walking Matt Duffy, Kluber settled in and retired the next nine batters he faced. The only other hit he gave up came in the fourth inning on a single to Tommy Pham.

Kluber relied on his sinker the most, getting six swinging strikes and 11 called strikes in the 38 times he threw it.

In 14 home starts this season, Kluber now has a 9-3 record with a 2.09 ERA, the third-lowest home ERA in the American League behind Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell (1.06) and Trevor Bauer (1.87). Per STATS LLC, Kluber’s 1.94 ERA at home since the start of 2017 is the third-lowest by any Tribe pitcher over a two-season span.

2. Edwin's homer is the difference maker The Cleveland Indians struggled to get any offensive momentum going against Tampa Bay starter Tyler Glasnow early on. The right-hander had a no-hitter going into the fifth inning, until Melky Cabrera recorded a two-out single. But the fireworks for Cleveland didn't come until the seventh frame when Edwin Encarnacion scored what would eventually be the winning run on a first-pitch solo homer to center. The homer gave Encarnacion his 92nd RBI of the season (fourth in the AL). He's also driven in an RBI in each of the last five games. Since coming off the disabled list on Aug. 22, Encarnacion has been on a tear, hitting .323 (10-for-31) with four homers, a double, 11 RBI and seven runs scored. His 11 RBI in that span are second most in the AL. In the eighth inning, Cleveland scored two more runs. After getting a single, Greg Allen stole second and advanced to both third and home on two separate wild pitches. Francisco Lindor drew a walk in the next at-bat, then proceeded to steal second and third before Michael Brantley brought him home with an RBI single.

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3. Redemption for Cody Allen

Cody Allen was having a rough week after giving up the winning run in Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins, picking up his six loss of the year.

When Allen pitched on Thursday Cleveland fans booed the reliever, prompting Francisco Lindor to ask fans not boo their own players.

On Friday, Allen got a little bit of redemption. He came in to pitch the eighth, and recorded three quick outs, two of which were strikeouts, on just nine pitches. Six of the pitches he threw were knuckle curves, a pitch that has given him some trouble this year.

Whether closing or setting up, Allen is going to be pitching for the Tribe come the postseason. It's in everyone's best interest if he can work out most, if not all, of his mechanical kinks prior to October. Over the last two days, it looks like he has likely turned a corner

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Ashley Bastock
ASHLEY BASTOCK

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