CLEVELAND _ Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber was solid yet again, and the Indians downed the Chicago White Sox 3-1 Tuesday night.
Kluber (13-8, 3.15 ERA) entered the game on a torrid stretch similar to the one that helped him win the 2014 American League Cy Young and continued that trend, allowing one run in six innings and striking out seven. He's now won his last five decisions across his last seven starts. In that stretch, he owns a 1.65 ERA and has struck out 46 batters in 49 innings. It was also his seventh straight quality start.
The last time he won five straight decisions was to end the 2014 season, the strongest Kluber has been, which also ended with him being named the AL's top pitcher. He's put together a similar streak, allowing nine earned runs in his last 49 innings pitched.
Andrew Miller took over in the seventh inning and, with the help of a couple of nice plays by shortstop Francisco Lindor, recorded two 1-2-3 innings. Since allowing a home run to Minnesota's Joe Mauer in his Cleveland debut, Miller has now allowed one run in 7 2/3 innings and struck out 11.
Miller's two hitless innings bridged the gap to Cody Allen in the ninth, who recorded his 23rd save of the season to improve the Indians to 16-13 since the All-Star break and 62-0 when leading after eight innings.
The Indians (68-49) grabbed an early lead against White Sox starting pitcher Jose Quintana (9-9, 2.85 ERA). In the bottom of the first inning, Jason Kipnis doubled to left-center and Lindor followed with a double to center field that was nearly caught by a diving J.B. Shuck, giving the Indians a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, Rajai Davis walked and stole second base. He then scored on a single down the left-field line by Mike Napoli, who was thrown out trying to advance to second base but not after bringing Davis home.
The White Sox (56-62) finally got to Kluber in the sixth inning, when Justin Morneau blasted a solo home run to right field, cutting the Indians' deficit to 2-1.
Kipnis added an RBI-single off Dan Jennings in the seventh, scoring Roberto Perez, who doubled to open the inning.
The Detroit Tigers also lost to the Kansas City Royals 6-1 Tuesday night, pushing the Indians' AL Central lead to six games.
