The Cleveland Indians no longer have to worry about their ace. Corey Kluber, after starting the 2015 season 0-5 in his first seven starts, dazzled during Wednesday night's matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The right-hander struck out 18 batters and surrendered just one hit over eight innings. He was pulled after throwing 113 pitches over that span and manager Terry Francona brought in closer Cody Allen to seal the 2-0 victory. Kluber is now 1-5 with a 4.27 ERA, 1.196 WHIP and 64 strikeouts in eight starts (52 2/3 innings).
His 18 strikeouts were the most in the MLB since Ben Sheets achieved the feat for the Milwaukee Brewers and the most in the American League since Roger Clemens did it for the Boston Red Sox in 1998, MLB.com's Jordan Bastian noted. Additionally, Kluber set the record for most strikeouts in a game against St. Louis in Cardinals' franchise history, according to the NL club's Twitter account.
The record for most strikeouts in a game was set by Clemens back on April 29, 1986, when he fanned 20 batters in a game against the Seattle Mariners. You can see the rest of the MLB strikeout records on Baseball-Almanac.com.
However, the strikeouts milestone wasn't the only one Kluber achieved. According to Matthew Pouliot of Rotoworld.com and NBCSports.com, the 29-year-old also recorded the highest game score (98) ever for an eight-inning outing. The game score stat was developed by Bill James and it's described below, per Baseball-Reference:
"Start with 50 points. Add 1 point for each out recorded, (or 3 points per inning). Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed. Subtract 1 point for each walk."
Check out Kluber's 18 strikeouts in the video below. He struck out every batter in the Cardinals' lineup multiple times except for first baseman Matt Adams and outfielder Matt Holliday, who was hit by a pitch in the first inning and left the game.
Kluber won the AL Cy Young Award last season after finishing 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA, 1.095 WHIP and 269 strikeouts in 34 starts (235 2/3 innings) in his first full season as a starter. He's gotten off to an awfully slow start in 2015, but Wednesday night proved he still has what it takes and the Indians perhaps needn't worry after signing him to a five-year, $38.5 million extension this offseason.
Cleveland still has some ground to make up, though. They're now 12-20 and sit eight games behind the first-place Kansas City Royals, which is good enough for last place in the AL Central.
