Cleveland’s Corey Kluber will face Cubs on short rest, could pitch three times in World Series

When starting pitchers Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco suffered serious injuries during the season’s final months, the Cleveland Indians’ World Series championship hopes seemed faint.

But as the postseason began, the Indians found a dependable starter to slot in behind Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin. The answer: more Kluber.

On Saturday night at Wrigley Field, Kluber will start Game 4 of the World Series on short rest, channeling the playoff pitchers of a past generation. He will face Cubs right-hander John Lackey, who will be making his first start of the series and first World Series start since 2013 with Boston. If the Fall Classic extends to a seventh game, Kluber would be in line to start three games in the series.

“It’s just basically doing the same stuff in one less day,” Kluber said on Friday, as he prepared for his second start of the series. “The (side sessions) are a little shorter and things like that, but (I’ll) still be able to get in the things I need to get in in between. I don’t really feel like the last time I did it made a big difference in the way I felt the day I pitched.”

Kluber, who won the 2014 Cy Young Award, finished 18-9 with a 3.14 ERA during the regular season before piecing together a brilliant postseason. After throwing six scoreless innings in Game 1 in Cleveland, he lowered his postseason ERA to 0.74 with 29 strikeouts in four starts. Now he will face the Cubs’ lineup for the second time in just days.

“I’m not going to change the way I pitch,” Kluber said. “I think if I was trying to be a different kind of pitcher, this isn’t necessarily the time to do that.”

Bauer, who struggled in Game 2, will follow Kluber in Game 5, pitching on short rest for the first time this postseason. Tomlin, who started on Friday night, will also pitch on short rest if the series reaches six games.

Indians manager Terry Francona, in part, has employed a three-man rotation out of necessity. Salazar, who battled forearm issues during the second half of the season, returned to the roster for the World Series, but will only be used out of the bullpen. Carrasco was lost for the season after suffering a broken hand in the middle of September.

But as the series shifted to Chicago, Francona expressed confidence in Kluber. In the American League Championship Series, Kluber started on short rest against the Toronto Blue Jays and allowed two runs in five innings in a 5-1 loss. Now he will take the ball again, an ace trying to equal the greats of the postseason.

“Kluber has made himself, through hard work, one of the elite pitchers in the game,” Francona said. “Once he got here he didn’t take the foot off the gas.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Cleveland’s Corey Kluber will face Cubs on short rest, could pitch three times in World Series."