Cleveland Indians: Corey Kluber’s injury not expected to be serious

Cleveland Indians fans were terrified when Corey Kluber was removed from Friday night’s game, but Terry Francona provided a rather relieving update.

A postseason without Corey Kluber would not be completely hopeless, but it would be quite close.

Those unfortunate thoughts raced through the minds of Cleveland Indians fans Friday night when Corey Kluber began limping after running to first to cover the bag on a ground ball.

Terry Francona and the trainer came out immediately, and the smartest move seemed to be to remove Kluber from the game. Yet the ace insisted he was fine and stayed in for another batter, only for Francona to get him out of there.

The fact Kluber was able to continue pitching was a good sign, but the situation was still worrisome until Francona cleared things up after the game.

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Kluber does indeed have an ankle sprain, but it comes down to how he feels in that bullpen session to see how bad it is. Those who have suffered a sprained ankle know how stiff the entire foot can feel the next day, which may be the case for Kluber.

The good news is that this does not appear to be a major injury, which is just fantastic. Seeing Kluber limping on the field was what nightmares are made of, especially after spending nearly a year wondering what could have been if the entire roster was healthy in 2016.

At this point it seems like a smart move to let Kluber miss a start even if he says the ankle is fine. He could even miss two to rest up and prepare for the final month of the regular season.

Kluber is having a legendary season but the accolades won’t matter if he isn’t healthy for the postseason. So even if he claims he can pitch next week, a stint on the 10-day disabled list wouldn’t be a horrible idea.

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Ryan Merritt could get in a few starts with Kluber out, as he has shown to be a capable option in these spot-start situations.