KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Corey Kluber had one bad inning and that was enough to snap his three-game winning streak.
Kluber, who was 3-0 with a 1.41 ERA in his four previous starts, threw 110 pitches in a complete-game 4-2 loss to the Royals Wednesday night.
Kluber allowed five straight hits, the last three of them RBI doubles, in the third inning.
“It was just a matter in that one inning, I didn’t execute pitches,” Kluber said. “In the third inning, I just didn’t quite get balls to where they needed to be and left them too far over the plate and they took advantage of them.
“It really just came down to those five batters ended up being the difference. Other than that everything was good.”
After the third inning, Kluber allowed two singles and no runs.
“I just made better pitches,” he said.
Kluber is 0-3 against the Royals this season.
“You always have a nemesis, but it’s just trying to get over that,” said Indians center fielder Michael Bourn. “He’s a great pitcher. He didn’t win the Cy Young by accident. I’m pretty sure he’d love to face them again. We’re not worried about that. We want him on the mound every fifth day.”
Kluber did strike out nine and tops the majors with 105. He reached 100 strikeouts quicker than any Indians pitcher since Sam McDowell in 1970.