Rangers at Indians
Corey Kluber is unbeaten in five starts since spending nearly a month on the disabled list and looks to keep his dominating run going when the Cleveland Indians wrap up a four-game series against the visiting Texas Rangers on Thursday afternoon. The Indians improved to 2-4 on their seven-game homestand with a 5-2 victory on Wednesday.
The top four batters in Cleveland's lineup each recorded two hits, with Michael Brantley delivering a pair of RBI singles in his second game since coming off the disabled list. Kluber is 3-0 in his five starts this month, giving up only five earned runs while striking out 52 over 35 innings. The 2014 American League Cy Young Award winner has a chance to boost his impressive strikeout total against the Rangers, who are threatening the all-time record in June for whiffs as they've been fanned 42 times in the series thus far. Backup catcher Robinson Chirinos continues to make a case for a regular slot in Texas' lineup, homering in four straight games and seven of his last 10.
TV: 12:10 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Texas), SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers RH Andrew Cashner (3-6, 3.50 ERA) vs. Indians RH Corey Kluber (6-2, 3.24)
Cashner is having trouble putting together back-to-back solid starts, which is reflected in how he went 3-3 over his last six starts before landing on the disabled list with an oblique strain. He was tagged for four runs and 10 hits in four innings at Houston last time out after yielding one run over seven frames at Washington in his previous turn. Cashner is 2-4 with a 3.79 ERA in seven road starts.
Kluber was overpowering in his last start against Minnesota, registering a season-high 13 strikeouts while permitting two unearned runs and three hits over seven innings. It was the third consecutive turn with a double-digit strikeout total for Kluber, who tossed his second three-hit shutout of the season at Baltimore on June 19. Adrian Beltre is 4-for-10 with a home run against Kluber.
WALK-OFFS
1. Rangers SS Elvis Andrus is 11-for-25 with three homers and eight RBIs over the first six contests of the team's seven-game road trip.
2. Indians MGR Terry Francona was back in the dugout and fitted with a heart monitor on Wednesday after feeling light-headed in the series opener.
3. Texas is 19 strikeouts away from breaking the AL record for most in the month of June, which was set in 2015 by Houston (278).