Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians are rolling along q

CLEVELAND (AP) —uite nicely. And help is on the way.Kluber pitched seven sparkling innings Michael Fulmer Jersey , Edwin Encarnacion homered and the Indians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Friday night.AL Central-leading Cleveland won for the fourth time in five games, and then finalized a trade for 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson. The Indians sent a player to be named to the Blue Jays for cash considerations and Donaldson, a slugging third baseman who has been limited to 36 games this season because of injuries.Kluber (17-7) allowed two singles, struck out eight and walked two in Cleveland’s AL-best 14th shutout this season. Cody Allen worked a perfect eighth and Brad Hand finished the two-hitter for his 31st save.It was an encouraging outing for Allen, who lost the closer job during a tough August.“Just because Cody ran into a hiccup there, we never lost confidence in him,” Kluber said. “He’s not one of the best closers that we’ve had in this organization for no reason. We all have the same goal here and that’s to win. I thought he looked real good tonight.”Pitching for the third straight day, Allen helped the Indians retire the last 17 batters. He was 0-2 with two blown saves and an 11.57 ERA in his previous six appearances.“This is a special group we’ve got and these guys are my bros,” Allen said. “I’m not surprised the way they’ve stayed behind me and picked me up. We’ve got very, very high character guys who care a great deal about each other.”Kluber, making a bid for a second straight AL Cy Young Award, matched Yankees ace Luis Severino for the major league lead in wins. He also moved into first place in the AL with 186 2/3 innings.“I thought Klubes was really crisp and I thought Cody looked tremendous,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “Cody should feel really good. He should because he’s worked hard. Now, we’ve got to keep him there.”Encarnacion snapped a scoreless tie with a solo drive to center off Tyler Glasnow (1-4) in the seventh. The Indians added two more in the ninth when Greg Allen scored on a wild pitch and Michael Brantley singled home Francisco Lindor.Glasnow struck out six in a career-high seven innings. He was working on a no-hitter before Melky Cabrera singled with two out in the fifth.“I was really impressed with the way Tyler threw the ball Leonys Martin Jersey ,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “He was just awesome to watch and went toe to toe with arguably one of the best in the game. We couldn’t get anything done offensively, but Kluber’s numbers speak for themselves.”Joey Wendle hit a leadoff single in the first and Tommy Pham singled in the fourth for Tampa Bay’s only hits. The Rays are 9-2 since Aug. 19, matching their best 11-game run in four years.RIVALRY RENEWEDFrancona and Cash are close friends who enjoy kidding each other. Cash fired the opening volley by stealing Francona’s dugout chair before the game. Francona responded with a scoreboard graphic entitled “How bad is Kevin Cash at the plate?” that featured his statistics.TRAINER’S ROOMRays: C Michael Perez was placed on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring. … OF Mallex Smith (viral infection) begins a rehabilitation assignment Saturday with Single-A Charlotte. Smith fell ill and was hospitalized last week. Cash said the leadoff hitter could be activated when he is eligible on Monday.Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer (right fibula stress fracture) underwent a second bone scan and will learn the results Saturday. The All-Star was struck by a line drive on Aug. 11 and is expected to be out until mid-September.UP NEXTRays LHP Blake Snell (16-5, 2.05 ERA) takes on Indians RHP Shane Bieber (8-2, 4.52 ERA) in the second game of the series. Snell is tied for third in the majors in victories behind Severino and Kluber. The submariner can be good for them. He doesn’t have to be great right now, though"Each passing day brings into starker relief the look of the 2019 Cleveland Indians. With each move made and not made we realize more and more what to expect from the season. Nowhere is this more obvious than the bullpen. After busting the block by acquiring Brad Hand last year tobuild what was supposed to be a three-headed dragon of doom, the ‘pen has taken a step back as familiar names depart without being replaced. A lot is resting on some relatively untested arms. Of note, second year submariner Adam Cimber has a lot of expectation unexpectedly foisted on him.This is the result of simply not developing big time arms in the minors, and not having the money to go find one in the offseason. Suddenly Cimber has an inside track to be a high leverage/setup guy behind Brad Hand. There’s been a lot of head-scratching at the the front office not addressing blatant needs considering the combination of talent and flaws on the team, but this case of inaction is just dangerous. I wrote in October that we should get used to Cimber, and we should. He’s under control for a long time, and even if he’s mediocre at best he’ll be a mainstay in the ‘pen. Just look at how long Zach McAllister stuck around the team. Innings do need eating in the long slog of the season, and even middling bullpen arms can serve a vital role. But the way he’s being presented now is something more than just mediocre. If everything holds as it is, he’s supposed to be a key to the bullpen. Right now http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , that’s a problem.Usually there’s something in a young pitcher that draws you to him, makes you think he’ll be something special. In Cimber there’s that weird delivery and the fact that righties hit .201/.221/.261 before he joined the Indians. There’s a lot of great right-handed hitting in the American League, and if he could learn a solid changeup to work on lefites there was hope that he could do similar work to lefties.But it went sour in Cleveland, and from July 20 on righties hit .288/.361/.477, or basically Michael Brantley. Lefties were more Ruthian in just 19 plate appearances bopping .467/.579/.867. In short, everything went to hell. All the promise, the hope that he’d become some sort of ROOGY for the Indians was thrown down the tubes. And now with Cody Allen and Andrew Miller departed, chances are high he’ll find himself in quite a few high leverage situations. It’s not like it’s him, Hand and a heap of garbage of course. Oliver Perez is back, and he was great last year. Neil Ramirez might be solid again. But by virtue of their inaction, the Indians are plainly stating that Cimber needs to perform in big situations. I don’t know how much hope they’re heaping on John Edwards or Nick Goody or Tyler Olson, but regardless of the name it’s not encouraging what we’ll see setting up the close for Hand. If Cimber doesn’t work out this saeson and starts riding his options back and forth from Columbus, that will have a ripple effect across the bullpen, and the pitching staff as a whole.Cimber can probably be an effective pitcher for the Indians. It would be nice if he could add some velocity http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , and a third pitch to use against lefties is paramount. With all their right-handed starting pitching, opponents are bound to stack lineups with platoon-strong lefties to try to succeed against the Indians, which Cimber needs to be able to combat. But right now it seems like he’s being cast in a role that’s more than he should have to face, at least right now in his development. Some pitchers come into the Majors ready to shut down lineups. Those guys usually throw somewhere approaching 100 these days. That’s not Cimber, obviously, but it doesn’t have to be. He just needs a chance to grow, and not be cast so far into the fire that he disintegrates before he can find his best self. Maybe the Majors isn’t a place to focus on development over production, but that’s simply where the Indians stand. They have no other real options at the moment, and need him to be some kind of weapon in 2019. Otherwise, it’s another year of MVP’s and dazzling starters, down the drain.