Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from a stumble against the Twins

Kluber day did not go as expected for the Cleveland Indians. The Twins jumped on the ace early and didn’t slow down as they never trailed in a 6-3 win.

What is with it when it comes to these Twins? It seems like every time the Cleveland Indians invite this team to Cleveland or head out to face them in Minnesota, they always struggle.

The Twins got the best of the Tribe again this time around, winning 6-3.

Can’t beat the Twins

This was the Indians fifth loss this season against Minnesota and fourth straight. That puts them at 2-5 on the year against them.

Obviously, the Twins are in the AL Central with Cleveland, so they will be seeing each other a lot this season. 19 total times to be exact.

But this newfound difficulty against the Twins is at the most concerning and at the very least annoying.

Minnesota was seven games under .500 coming into this game and were are just third in the AL Central, a division with four teams under .500, the only division in all of baseball to have more than three.

So really, as a division leader and World Series hopeful, the Indians should be rolling every time they come to town.

But for whatever reason the Indians continue to struggle against these Twins and I continue to be sad.

Rough outing for Kluber

Corey Kluber has been dominant this year. It seems like every day there’s a new stat or factoid about the dominance Kluber has exuded this season.

Through two and a half months of baseball Kluber has looked like the favorite for the AL Cy Young and people all across the country sing his praises on a daily basis.

Each time Kluber takes the pump the internet updates his streak of batters faced without giving up a walk.

And that is what I like to call a jinx. Kluber laid an egg (by his standards at least. Any average pitcher would’ve hung his hat on the effort and called it a day).

He went just five innings, giving up four hits and four runs. But even worse, Kluber lost his streak of batters faced without giving up a walk.

Kluber’s final total of batters faced in between walks was 179. It was always bound to end at some point but a better performance coupled with that streak ending walk would’ve softened the blow.

Why Eddie Rosario? Why?

Eddie Rosario has been great this season for the Twins but wow does he feast on the Indians. Leaving out their first two contests in April (Rosario was below average) he has feasted in his last five contests against Cleveland.

In these five games he’s seen 19 at-bats, collecting nine hits, seven runs, nine RBIs, and five home runs (three of which came in one game).

He has 14 home runs on the season, meaning over a third of his homers have been hit against the Indians alone. Also in those five games he’s averaging a slash line of .310/.343/.536.

Next: Greg Allen’s time with the club is running out

For whatever reason this guy just goes off whenever the pitcher staring back at him has a big block C on their hat. Almost makes me want to see him in a Tribe uniform some day if he’s going to keep hitting so well in Cleveland.