John Lackey kept throwing out baseballs, seemingly wondering what was wrong with them.
Corey Kluber kept throwing out Cardinals.
He didn’t entice them to hit meek grounders that he could field and toss to his first baseman.
He didn’t get them to hit over the ball, tapping soft dribblers to his infielders, who would relay throws to catch would-be base runners.
No.
He just kept throwing the ball right into the catcher’s glove.
His pitches might be above the batter’s belt.
The batter might just squint at the sky, then at his dugout.
The next hitter would lunge for pitches curving toward the outside of the plate.
It might be called a strike, anyway.
It is certainly hard to hit.
So St. Louis hitters kept walking to home, then walking away.
With two outs in the seventh, Jhonny Peralta dug in.
On 2-0 count, he hit a ground ball that escaped to the outfield
He stopped at first.
The fans stood.
Kluber had been seven outs from a no-hitter.
The Cardinals were a swing away from tying the game.
Instead, he struck out the next batter, Jason Heyward, to end the top of the inning.
His 16th.
He struck out two more, the last, Mark Reynolds, on a whiff.
Kluber left after eight, the Indians up 2-0 after scoring both runs in the first.
His replacement, Cody Allen, closed the game.
He struck out Peter Bourjos, and didn’t allow a hit.
St. Louis: 1 hit. 19 strikeouts.
Cleveland: a win.
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