On Wednesday, May 13th, the St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians squared off in game two of a three game inter-league series in Cleveland, Ohio. Since inter-league play began in 1997, the Cardinals had never won a series in Cleveland, but they won 8-3 on Tuesday night, which saw the return of Matt Carpenter.
And on Wednesday, the series-winning drought against the Tribe wound up being left in a cliffhanger.
It was a game that featured a veteran pitcher in John Lackey (2-1, 3.20), and a former Cy Young-winning pitcher who looks to have a bright career ahead of him in Corey Kluber (0-5, 5.04). Kluber entered the game 0-5 on the season, and the Indians entered 0-7 in games in which Kluber started.
But Kluber for nearly seven innings, pitched a no-hitter against the Cardinals, as the Indians pulled off the 2-0 victory.
The first inning started with Kluber striking out Kolten Wong and getting Carpenter to fly out. During the next at-bat, in which he faced Matt Holliday, Kluber hit him with a pitch in the elbow, an incident that would eventually cause Holliday to be taken out of the game. As for Lackey in the bottom half of the first, Jason Kipnis started off with a walk, as did Carlos Santana. Michael Brantley struck out, but a single by Brandon Moss scored Kipnis, giving the Indians the early 1-0 lead.
David Murphy followed with a single of his own, scoring Santana and making it 2-0 Indians in the first inning.
Kluber, for the next three innings, continued to establish pure dominance over the Cardinals. By the end of the fourth inning, Kluber had pitched a no-hitter, struck out nine, including six straight strikeouts which ended at the start of the fifth inning. Meanwhile, Lackey wouldn’t allow another run following the first, but the score remained 2-0 in favor of Cleveland. Yadier Molina struck out in the fifth inning (he had flown out in his prior at-bat), for Kluber’s 10th strikeout of the game.
During the fifth inning, Lackey hit Kipnis in the back on the first pitch, and Indians manager Terry Francona was ejected after arguing with the umpire over the circumstances following the hit-by-pitch.
And Matt Adams followed Molina’s strikeout with one of his own, as now, Kluber looked less like his 2015 form, and more like the form that drew praise all across of Major League Baseball, and won him a Cy Young Award.
Between the two pitchers, it became a pitching duel, as through five innings, the scoreboard showed only two runs, four hits, and eight players left on base (one from the Cardinals). The top of the sixth inning started with back-to-back strikeouts of Mark Reynolds and Peter Bourjos (Kluber’s 12th and 13th), and a ground-out by Wong.
In the bottom half of the sixth, after his 105th pitch of the evening, was taken out of the game by manager Mike Matheny, and reliever Randy Choate was brought in with two runners on and one out. With Kipnis up to bat, Choate hit him with a pitch, the second time Kipnis was hit during the game, which loaded the bases for the Indians. Santana then hit a liner right to Choate, who caught it for the second out. A ground ball hit to Peralta led to the third and final out of the inning, as Cleveland stranded three.
In the top of the seventh, Kluber set a new career high with 15 strikeouts in a game, and was still pitching a no-hitter.
Until Peralta stepped back up to the plate…
Peralta would line a single up the middle to break up Kluber’s no-hitter bid, after which the Indians pitcher received a nice ovation from both teams’ fans at Progressive Field. The Cardinals, however, still could not garner a run, as the game headed to the bottom of the seventh. Choate would remain in the game, and the inning started with an infield base hit, as Murphy stepped up to bat. But the Indians could not capitalize, as Choate would be able to get out of the eighth inning unscathed.
But unfortunately for the Cardinals, Kluber remained in the game. He started by striking out Molina once again, which gave him 17 on the evening. That strikeout tied Dazzy Vance of the 1925 Brooklyn Robins for the most strikeouts against the Cardinals. And with the next batter, Reynolds, Kluber broke that record with strikeout number 18.
In the bottom of the eighth, Carlos Villanueva would continue the shutout streak during the game since the first inning, as the Indians once again could not capitalize with scoring base-runners. Cody Allen then entered in the top of the ninth to try and close out for the game for Cleveland. First up for St. Louis was Bourjos. And just like Kluber did twice before to him, Allen struck Bourjos out. Wong then popped out in foul territory. Carpenter, the final hope for the Cardinals, stepped up to bat, and grounded out, as the Indians won 2-0.
The final line of the game for Kluber: 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 18 K (113 pitches/74 strikes). As for Lackey, his final line: John Lackey – 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 2 K (105 pitches/64 strikes).
St. Louis dropped to 23-10 on the season, while the Indians improved to 12-20.
Michael Wacha is the starter for the series finale Thursday.
