Cleveland Indians pitcher Corey Kluber may have suffered through another rough outing, but his first strikeout in Monday's 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins made him the Indians' first right-handed pitcher since Bob Feller (1940-41) to record 500 or more strikeouts over a two-year span, per MLB Stat of the Day.
After striking out 269 batters in his Cy Young-winning 2014 campaign, Kluber entered Monday's contest with 230 strikeouts this season, needing just one more to reach 500 over the two-year span.
He got the necessary strikeout against Twins outfielder Eddie Rosario to end the first inning, but only after surrendering an RBI double to Twins designated hitter Miguel Sano and a two-run home run to Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe.
With his team in an early 3-0 hole and the Twins getting the best of him in a second straight start, Kluber probably wouldn't have cared about the milestone even if he had known.
He did settle down a bit after the rough opening frame, ultimately allowing four runs, seven hits, three walks and six strikeouts on 102 pitches over six innings.
The loss dropped his record to 8-16, with the 16 losses putting Kluber one ahead of Oakland Athletics pitcher Jesse Chavez for the American League lead.
Kluber's undoubtedly been one of the least lucky pitchers in all of baseball, as his ERA estimators on Fangraphs (FIP, SIERA, etc.) are all much better than his actual ERA, and he's also suffered through terrible run support.
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