 had little trouble with baseball's worst team.The defending Cy Young Award winner allowed three hits, struck out 10 and improved to 4-0 with a 0.33 ERA in four starts against Central Division teams this season.Melky Cabrera drove in three runs off Reynaldo Lopez (1-4) and Michael Brantley extended his MLB-high hitting streak to 19 games for Cleveland, which used the series to gain some confidence and momentum. The Indians have scored 43 runs during their win streak.Jose Ramirez and Edwin Encarnacion connected for back-to-back homers in the fourth off Chris Volstad as the Indians opened a 9-0 lead.The White Sox committed two more errors, dropped their fourth in a row and fell to 16-37. Chicago had five errors in the three-game series.Yolmer Sanchez homered leading off the ninth as the White Sox avoided a shutout.Kluber is tough to deal with under normal circumstances, but with a big lead and pitching at home, he's nearly unbeatable. The right-hander is 5-0 with a 1.26 ERA at Progressive Field, and he didn't walk a batter for the fourth straight start.Chicago's Yoan Mocada led off the first with a single off Kluber, who then struck out eight of the next 12 and spent the rest of the day fine-tuning his already fine-tuned collection of pitches.Cabrera's two-run double highlighted a five-run third for the Indians. They had Lopez in trouble in the first inning, but let the right-hander escaped by giving up only two runs.Brantley singled in the first when the Indians took a 2-0 lead against Lopez, whose wild pitch brought in Greg Allen with Cleveland's first run before Cabrera delivered a one-out sacrifice fly.Since moving into the No. 2 spot in Cleveland's order, Brantley is batting .368 (29 of 79) with six homers, 18 RBIs and 20 runs scored.MANAGING MILLERThe Indians are still working out a treatment plan for All-Star reliever Andrew Miller, who has been on the disabled list three times in the past year with a right knee issue.Miller has not been effective since returning from a hamstring injury on May 11. He visited a specialist in New York on Wednesday, and manager Terry Francona said the tests and examination gave Miller ''some peace of mind.'' The 33-year-old is not expected to need surgery at this time. Francona said the team will likely have more information Thursday in Minnesota on the next course of action for Miller, who is 1-3 with a 4.40 ERA in 17 appearances.TRAINER'S ROOMWhite Sox: INF Matt Davidson (back spasms) will be re-evaluated when the team returns home for a weekend series against Milwaukee. Davidson, tied for the club lead with 11 home runs, was placed on the DL on Monday.Indians: Injured OFs Bradley Zimmer (bruised left rib), Lonnie Chisenhall (strained right calf) and Brandon Guyer (strained neck) are all making progress. Francona said Zimmer is the closest to being activated.UP NEXTWhite Sox: LHP Hector Santiago starts against Milwaukee in the opener of a three-game series Friday. He picked up his first win of the season on May 26, allowing one run in five innings against Detroit.Indians: Rookie Shane Bieber will make his major league debut - on his 23rd birthday - in the opener of a four-game series at Minnesota. A fourth-round pick in 2016, Bieber has quickly risen through Cleveland's system. He pitched a rain-shortened, seven-inning no-hitter for Triple-A Columbus last week. He's is the first pitcher in Cleveland history to debut on his birthday.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbasebal)
Indians' Kluber aims to show Sox's Lopez how it's done 3h ago• 2 min read CLEVELAND -- One of the premier pitchers and strike throwers in the major leagues will face one of the more promising young pitchers in the American League Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field as Cleveland Indians' Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber faces Chicago White Sox right-hander Reynaldo Lopez in the final game of a three-game series.AL Central-leading Cleveland has won the first two games of the series and won four games in a row overall. Chicago, in last place in the Central, has lost three in a row.Kluber (7-2, 2.17 ERA) is 11 starts into another typical Kluber season. He is tied for the American League lead in wins, is second in innings pitched, third in fewest walks per nine innings (1.1), and fourth in ERA.The Indians' American League-worst bullpen (6.06 ERA) has prevented Kluber from posting even better numbers. In his last start, May 25 vs. Houston, Kluber left the game in the seventh inning with a 2-0 lead, and the Astros then scored 11 runs in two innings in an eventual 11-2 Indians loss.In that game Kluber pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowed seven hits, with seven strikeouts and no walks. He will go into Wednesday's game with a streak of 22 1/3 consecutive innings without a walk. In the month of May, he is 3-1, with a 2.16 ERA, with 31 strikeouts and one walk. In Kluber's two losses and two no-decisions he has a combined 2.30 ERA.This will be Kluber's first start of the season against the White Sox. In 20 career appearances against Chicago, he is 9-4 with a 3.19 ERA.Because of all of their bullpen woes, the Indians' stable of relievers on the big-league roster has been in an almost constant state of flux. They have made several roster moves involving relievers, and made another one Tuesday, selecting the contract of right-hander Jeff Beliveau from Triple-A Columbus and optioning starter Adam Plutko to Columbus."We're going to get it figured out," said manager Terry Francona of the Indians' bullpen blues. "There's been some tough sledding at times, but we'll figure it out." Cleveland's bullpen might be struggling, but their lineup isn't. In the first six games of this seven-game homestand, the Indians have scored 38 runs, an average of 6.3 per game. The Indians lead the majors with 161 runs scored in the month of May.The ring leader has been Michael Brantley, who will take an 18-game hitting streak, the longest active streak in the majors, into Wednesday's game. In Tuesday's game, he had three hits, including a home run. He is hitting .367 during the streak, with six home runs and 19 RBIs. For the season overall, he is hitting .343, which ranks second in the AL."Boy, he's fun to watch. He's an extremely good teammate, and very humble," Francona said.Chicago's Wednesday Reynolds (1-3, 2.93) ranks 10th in the AL in ERA and 11th with an opponents' batting average of .205. His last start was a no decision in a 5-4 White Sox loss to Detroit. In that game, Reynolds pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits, with three strikeouts and three walks.Like Kluber, Reynolds has at times suffered from a lack of support by his teammates. He has gotten an average of just 2.88 runs per game support from White Sox hitters. In his six no-decisions, he has a 2.82 ERA.In one career start against Cleveland, Reynolds is 0-1 with a 1.50 ERA.
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