One bad inning dooms Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians in opening-night 2-1 loss to Seattle
By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
phoynes@cleveland.com
SEATTLE -- Oh, that first inning.
In his last three starts Corey Kluber has allowed a home run in the first inning. The first two homers came in Games 2 and 5 in the ALDS against the Yankees in October. The third came Thursday night in the season opener against the Mariners.
Nelson Cruz hit Kluber's first pitch over the wall in center field to give Seattle a 2-1 win over the Indians at Safeco Field.
Back in October, Gary Sanchez homered against Kluber in Game 2 and Didi Gregorius got him in Game 5. OK, so the guy has a problem, but is it really that serious?
After Cruz's homer, Kluber pitched like a Cy Young winner. He held the Mariners scoreless over the last seven innings for a complete-game six-hitter. He struck out eight and walked one.
Cruz came into the game hitting .273 (6-for-22) against Kluber. The homer was his first against the Indians' ace.
Kluber started the game with two quick outs. Robinson Cano singled to bring Cruz to the plate. Cruz hit 39 homers last season.
"I didn't throw a very good pitch to Cano," said Kluber. "I didn't throw a very good pitch to [Cruz]. It's the first inning. If you don't [locate] a couple pitches, it's magnified.
"I don't think I had to reinvent anything after that point. It's just a matter of going out there and executing."
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The Indians tried to rally in the ninth. Edwin Encarnacion was hit by a pitch from closer Edwin Diaz with one out. Rajai Davis pinch ran and Diaz balked Davis to second. Diaz hit Lonnie Chisenhall with a pitch -- after the Indians challenged the call -- and Davis stole third.
Diaz, however, earned the save by striking out Gomes and Tyler Naquin.
"That's what we got Rajai for," said Gomes. "He's going to be doing that a lot. That was a good battle by us. We just couldn't come through today, but it was good to see us fight back like that."
Felix Hernandez (1-0) started for the Mariners. It was his 10th straight opening day start and he held the Indians scoreless through 5 1/3 innings. He struck out four, walked two and allowed two hits.
Hernandez is 7-2 on opening day and 8-6 in his career against the Indians.
Kluber (0-1, 2.25) has won 18 games in three of the last four years. But Thursday night was his fourth straight opening day start and he's 0-3 in those games.
"He hung a breaking ball to Cano, first pitch. And he mislocated the fastball the next pitch (to Cruz)," said manager Terry Francona. "And that was it.
"I thought we played some really good defense. Frankie (Lindor) saved us a run up the middle. Kluber settled down and pitched just like you'd hope. I thought he was in command of himself. He worked ahead for the most part. I thought he was really good."
After Mitch Haniger started the fifth with a double, Lindor made a diving stop against catcher Mike Marjama to save a run. The ball bounced away from him, but he grabbed it and still managed to throw out Marjama at first.
"There was a guy on second and I just wanted to make sure I kept the ball in front of me," said Lindor. "It hit the tip of the glove and I realized I had a chance at first beause the catcher was running. That's when I turned around and made a throw to first.
"Plays like that help the pitching staff. Kluber did a great job, but I didn't help him hitting today. . .We just couldn't come through for him."
The Indians made it 2-1 in the seventh when Chisenhall doubled and scored on a bloop single by Gomes that fell among three defenders. Dee Gordon, making the move from second base to center field, didn't get a good read on the ball.
Naquin followed Gomes with a single to left, but Nick Vincent retired Bradley Zimmer on a soft liner to first to end the inning.
"Two runs usually doesn't get us," said Gomes. "But they pitched really when. It's one of those things when you're battling against Kluber, the best is going to come out of everyone,"
Hernandez made just two starts this spring after getting hit in the right arm by a line drive in February. The lack of innings and repetition did not seem to bother him against the Tribe as he allowed two hits through the first five innings.
But he was on a short leash and when he walked Jason Kipnis with one out in the sixth, Hernandez was done for the night.
What it means
Overall, the Indians are 60-58 on opening day. They are 38-35 when opening the season on the road.
They are 2-1 in season openers against the Mariners.
The pitches
Kluber threw 91 pitches, 66 (73 percent) for strikes. Hernandez threw 83 pitches, 49 (59 percent) for strikes.
First hits of the season
Jason Kipnis singled to right with two out in the third for the Indians first hit of 2018. Encarnacion singled in the fourth for the Tribe's second hit.
Thanks for coming
The Indians and Mariners drew a sellout crowd of 37,149 fans to Thursday's game. It was the largest crowd in the regular-season history of Safeco Field.
Next
The Indians and Seattle are off Friday and will resume their series Saturday afternoon at 4:10 p.m. when RHP Carlos Carrasco faces LHP James Paxton at 4:10 p.m. SportsTime Ohio, WTAM/1100 and WMMS 100.7 FM will carry the game.