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On Tuesday night, Cleveland Indians starter Corey Kluber set an MLB World Series record when he struck out eight batters in the first three innings in his first ever Fall Classic start.
The record was previously held by the Los Angeles Dodgers Orel Hershiser and and former Indian Jaret Wright who each struck out seven batters in their previous World Series starts.
But the night belonged to Kluber as he started the game by striking out Dexter Fowler, followed by fanning Kris Bryant and then induced a popup out off the bat of Anthony Rizzo.
In the second, he allowed a lead-off double to Ben Zobrist, but got back to work and struck out the next three batters on a swinging strike and two caught looking to end the inning. At that point Kluber had five strikeouts after facing just six batters.
In the record setting third inning, Kluber opened up the inning by striking out Addison Russell, his fourth K in a row. He then allowed a single to veteran David Ross, before mowing down Fowler and Bryant, for the second time in the game, earning his eighth strike out, while implanting his name into World Series lore.
In the fourth inning, he didn’t not record a K, but the dominance continued as he worked around a two-out double, retiring Javier Baez to fly out and end the threat.
Corey Kluber, pitching the game of his life, added to his strikeout total by fanning the ninth batter in the top of the fifth, and then retired the next five batters in a row before being lifted in the top of the seventh after allowing a lead-off single to Zobrist. In all, Kluber retired 18 of the 22 batters he faced in the game.
Kluber’s final line of the game was 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, just pure dominance and great composure in his first Fall Classic.
They always say that great pitching can stop great hitting any day, and Kluber proved that in Game 1.
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