It's been a rough start to the season for Corey Kluber and the Indians. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
CLEVELAND — The Indians can’t wait for the month of May. The month of April has been a nightmare. That nightmare continued Monday as the Indians lost to the Kansas City Royals 6-2. The loss dropped the Indians’ record to 6-12, the worst in the American League.
The Indians have lost 11 of their last 15 games. They haven’t won consecutive games since the second and third games of the season, when they beat Houston. The loss Monday to Kansas City was particularly frustrating because the Indians had more errors (3) than runs (2).
“We’re not scoring runs in bunches, so we need to pay attention to detail,” said manager Terry Francona. “Until we get going, we can’t sit around losing games until we get hot. We’ve got to win some games that are hard to win.”
The Indians have had such a dismal month of April that their Cy Young Award-winning pitcher made five starts and didn’t win any of them. Corey Kluber will exit the month of April winless. In five starts in April, Kluber was 0-3 with a 4.24 ERA.
Kluber also had a slow start last season. He was 18-9 last year, but in the month of April he was 2-3 with a 4.14 ERA. He is struggling again this April. “He’s where he was last year at this time,” said Francona. “He’s trying to get on a roll.”
Kluber’s last two starts, against division rivals the Royals and White Sox, have been particularly alarming. In those two starts, Kluber has a 7.20 ERA and opposing batters have hit .418 against him. In 12 1/3 innings, he has given up 10 runs on 23 hits.
