Kluber halts Indians’ starting-pitching skid

NEW YORK — The Indians’ starting pitching certainly is not as porous as it has been for the past five games, and on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, right-hander Corey Kluber pushed the stop button and sent the Tribe spinning in the right direction.

“I don’t think the first 100 games were a fluke,” Kluber said after combining with Andrew Miller to six-hit the Yankees in a 5-2 victory. “We still have a good staff. It just happens that for whatever reasons, guys struggled consecutively.

“I had some bad outings earlier in the year, and they picked me up. I don’t think we have any doubt that the guys are going to get back on track.”

Kluber, the 2014 American League Cy Young Award winner, did his part by pitching eight innings of five-hit, two-run ball. Miller pitched the ninth and recorded his first save for the Indians only six days after the Yankees traded him to Cleveland.

Kluber had one glitch. The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a double by Gary Sanchez and a wild pitch. Otherwise, the right-hander walked only one and struck out eight, holding the Yankees during the rest his outing to two hits and three baserunners.

“He was awesome. He always is,” Miller said about Kluber. “I can’t wait to watch this rotation throw, and he’s probably at the top of the list.”

Probably even more important than the win is the fact that Indians manager Terry Francona didn’t have to dip deep into the bullpen as he has all week. In the previous five starts, the Tribe’s rotation was 0-4 with a 15.58 ERA, having logged just 17 1/3 innings.

That’s an average of just above three innings per start. For example, Francona had to use three relievers on Friday night to bail out Josh Tomlin, who …

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