Led by four home runs and Corey Kluber, the Indians beat the Yankees 6-2 in the series opener

The Yankees failed to pick up ground in the division on Monday night as their bats were silenced by the Indians’ ace, Corey Kluber, over eight innings of work. Luis Severino pitched well, but was ultimately hurt by the long ball as he allowed three solo home runs in his 6.2 innings of work. The bullpen did not pitch very well to keep the game close for the struggling offense, and Gary Sanchez had a couple balls go by, which resulted in eventual boo’s in the ninth inning.

Photo Credit: AP | Bill Kostroun

The Indians started the scoring off early as their All-Star third baseman, Jose Ramirez, clubbed a home run to center field in the first inning off of Luis Severino. Chase Headley answered in the bottom of the third with a solo shot of his own, which was his first career hit off of Corey Kluber.

Another player that has struggled versus Kluber in his career, Todd Frazier came into game with an .087 batting average versus the Indians’ pitcher, but came through in the fifth inning as he laced a single into left field to score Jacoby Ellsbury and give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately for the Bombers, that was the last run they scored in the game.

Jose Ramirez continued to punish the Yankees as he tied the game with another solo home run in the sixth inning off of Severino to make it 2-2. Carlos Santana would follow up on his effort with the Indians’ third solo shot of the game in the seventh. Severino was taken out of the game, after 108 pitches, in the seventh inning in favor of RHP Adam Warren. Bradley Zimmer got the Indians a cheap run in the seventh off of Warren as he singled, stole second base, advanced to third on a Starlin Castro missed catch, and then scored on an Adam Warren wild pitch.

The Indians tacked on two more runs on the Yankees’ bullpen courtesy of an Austin Jackson home run off of Adam Warren in the eighth inning and a Bradley Zimmer double off of Chasen Shreve in the ninth.

Corey Kluber continued to stifle the Yankees offense, as he historically does, as he ended up going eight extremely solid innings and allowed only two hits, two runs, and struck out seven batters. Cody Allen came on and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the victory for the Tribe.

Photo Credit: AP | Bill Kostroun

On a night where Aaron Judge was sat in order to "refresh," the Yankees 1-6 hitters combined to go 0-22 with eight strikeouts, and the lone two baserunners of those six batters was Aaron Hicks on a walk and Gary Sanchez due to a throwing error.

The Yankees will look to even up the series tomorrow night in the Bronx at 7:05 PM EST. They will send Jaime Garcia, who is still looking for his first Yankee victory, to the mound against RHP Trevor Bauer, who is looking for his fourteenth win of 2017.

Winning Pitcher: Corey Kluber (13-4, 2.63 ERA) 8.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR

Losing Pitcher: Luis Severino (11-6, 3.14 ERA) 6.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 3 HR

Notables:

Chase Headley 1-3, 1 HR(9), 1 RBI, 1 R

Todd Frazier 1-3, 1 RBI

Jacoby Ellsbury 1-3, 1 2B, 1 R

Jose Ramirez 2-3, 2 HR(20), 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB

Bradley Zimmer 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R

Carlos Santana 1-3, 1 HR(21), 1 RBI, 2 R

Austin Jackson 1-4, 1 HR(6), 1 RBI, 1 R, 3 K

Article by: Ryan Thoms

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