Fresh off his historic start in Game 1 of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber has gotten the nod from manager Terry Francona to start Game 4 on Saturday, Bleacher Report's Scott Miller reported Wednesday.
Francona also added that Kluber will go for Game 7 if necessary, via Matt Snyder of CBS Sports.
Kluber helped the Indians take a 1-0 series lead by striking out nine batters over six innings without allowing a run Tuesday.
His performance was headlined by a dominant start as he became the first pitcher in World Series history to strike out eight batters in the first three innings, via the Fox telecast:
He also set an Indians World Series record for strikeouts in an entire game, surpassing Orel Hershiser in Game 1 of the 1995 series against the Atlanta Braves and Jaret Wright in Game 7 of the 1997 Fall Classic against the Florida Marlins, both of whom fanned seven.
More importantly, Kluber threw just 88 pitches on the night, which could go a long way with just three days of rest.
The 30-year-old has only started a game on three days' rest once in his career, and it came earlier in the postseason. After throwing 100 pitches in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays, Kluber returned for Game 4 and went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits as the Indians lost 5-1.
But given the way the powerful Cubs offense had such difficulty getting to Kluber, it's only natural that Francona and the Indians will want to roll out their ace as much as possible in the World Series. After all, this was a Cubs team that had scored 23 runs in the final three games of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
What makes Kluber so difficult is his deception on the mound. With the same windup and release point for each of his pitches, it's all but a guessing game for batters to try to decipher whether his pitch will stay true like a fastball or perform a last-second, severe break like his devastating cutter.
It makes Games 2 and 3 that much more important for the Cubs now that the ace they couldn't touch is looming in Game 4.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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