Corey Kluber, we’ve been waiting on you.
The Yankees needed someone not named Gerrit Cole to step up. They needed a big-time performance from someone other than their ace. Tuesday night, in Baltimore, Kluber delivered the goods.
The former Cy Young award winner has struggled to hold up his end as the No. 2 in the starting rotation. He took a step in the right direction with a strong showing against the Orioles.
Kluber pitch 6.2 innings of entertaining baseball to help lead the Yankees to a 5-1 victory.
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka all homered to help provide the 35-year old Kluber with enough run support.
“Corey set the tone,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, he threw the ball really well and was in command most of the night. I thought our offense did a lot of really good things. We still didn’t breakthrough with a lot of runs, but we’ll certainly take five.”
It was Kluber’s first win in two years.
His pitches were crisp and his approach was decisive. You knew he was cruising when his pitch count was only at 49 through four innings.
While Kluber was unable to get out of the seventh inning, he became the first Yankees starter other than Cole to go that deep into a game this season.
The bullpen for the Yankees this season has been strong, but they need their rotation to give more length. They need Kluber, as their No. 2 in that rotation, to do his part.
“Obviously getting the win was the most important thing, but it was good to finally go out there and string together a good outing,” Kluber said. “Any win you can get is a special one.”
There’s power pitchers and there’s pitchers who specialize in precision. On this night, Kluber kept the Orioles off balance with his masterful job locating his pitches.
Before the game Boone announced Higoshioka will be receiving more playing time behind the plate. He’s been lauded for his work with the pitching staff. It also shouldn’t go unnoticed it was Higoshioka catching Kluber.
If the Yankees are going to turn around their season, and there’s plenty of time left, they’ll need this level of performance from Kluber on a consistent basis.
Image: Corey Kluber – Greg Fiume/Getty Images
