Kluber blanks Tigers as 4th strong with Tribe

CLEVELAND — Indians ace Corey Kluber turned in a vintage performance on Wednesday night, creating a wave of groundball outs in a complete game and sidestepping a handful of jams en route to a 4-0 victory over the Tigers at Progressive Field.

The win was Cleveland’s fifth in a row over its division rival from Detroit this season.

The Indians used a four-run showing in the fourth inning against Tigers right-hander Anibal Sanchez to back Kluber’s gem. Michael Brantley, Mike Napoli and Yan Gomes contributed successive RBI hits in that frame against Sanchez (3-3), who struck out seven and allowed four hits in a seven-inning performance.

Over his nine innings, Kluber (2-3) generated 16 outs via grounders, including a pair of double plays. The right-hander struck out seven and walked two in the effort, which marked his second win over Detroit this year. In 17 innings against the Tigers on the season, Kluber has 17 strikeouts, two walks and only one run relinquished.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDEscape, Act I: During a stretch of nine consecutive balls, Kluber issued consecutive walks to load the bases with one out in the second inning. Unfazed, Kluber got Jose Iglesias to chop a pitch to first baseman Napoli, who fired it to catcher Gomes for a forceout at the plate. Cleveland’s ace then struck out Ian Kinsler to end the inning.

Escape, Act II: When Justin Upton opened the fourth with a double off the center-field wall, and Nick Castellanos followed with a single to put runners on the …

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