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Seattle Mariners

Corey Kluber quickly shuts out Mariners

Cleveland’s Corey Kluber pitched his first career shutout, in just 85 pitches. (Associated Press)
Ryan Divish Seattle Times

CLEVELAND – The Mariners found out what manager Lloyd McClendon already knew – Corey Kluber is really good.

The average fan might say, “Who?”

That’s Corey Kluber. Last name pronounced like “Tuber.” He’s one of the better pitchers in the American League.

Kluber dominated, pitching his first career shutout in a 2-0 win over the Mariners Wednesday night.

It was the 13th time the Mariners (55-52) were shut out this season.

Before the game, McClendon talked about Kluber’s ability to dominate, saying: “He’s been tough for a while. It just didn’t happen this year. He’s pretty good. He’s 95-96 with the fastball, a slider from hell. That would make a lot of people good.”

And then he got to watch it for nine frustrating innings that took only 2 hours and 10 minutes. Kluber needed just 85 pitches, 69 of which were strikes, to cover those nine innings. He struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter to improve to 11-6 and lower his ERA to 2.61. It was the eighth time in his past nine starts that Kluber had allowed two runs or fewer.

The Mariners mustered just three hits and had just one runner reach second base.

Kluber’s effort overshadowed Mariners starter Felix Hernandez, who had yet another solid outing, pitching seven innings and giving up two runs on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts.