Indians 3, Rays 0: Kluber wins an extraordinary pitching duel

Well, you can hope that he’s off. Sometimes that works. But more often than not, a Kluber is good, and sometimes he’s great.

He’ll put his fastball up and on the outer edge where you have trouble reaching it, and usually can’t pull it with power if you do. Then he’ll cut it down and in, under your swing. That’s what he did to Ji-Man Choi in the first inning, when Choi had an early opportunity with two men on and no outs. Corey Kluber sat Choi down on three different pitches in three differrent spots.

He’ll run his sinker back from the outside to catch the corner. Or maybe he doesn’t actually catch the corner, but the umpire will give him the strike anyway, because he’s Corey Kluber, and also…