It wasn’t perfect, but Red Sox starter Corey Kluber put together a strong bounce-back performance in Wednesday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The start, in which Kluber gave up one earned run on three hits, was a good response after the 36-year-old struggled mightily in his Red Sox debut. After undergoing some serious control issues on Opening Day, Kluber bounced back to hit his spots and keep a surprisingly-potent Pirates offense at bay.
Despite the solid start, Red Sox manager Alex Cora decided to pull his veteran right-hander after five innings.
Kluber isn’t sweating that decision, however.
“The way I view it now, and I always have, is that my job is to pitch as long as the manager says,” Kluber said following the outing, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Whether it’s five innings, nine innings, there’s a lot of things that go into those decisions on their part that is beyond me. It’s beyond the way I’m feeling and things like that.
“I’ve always tried to just approach it as, go out there and give it my all as long as they deem necessary. When they say it’s been enough, that’s their call.”
The move to bring in John Schreiber for the top of the sixth inning would immediately come back to prove costly for Boston, as a misplayed ball in the outfield led to a double, eventually leading to the first of three Pirates runs across the final four frames.
Kluber helped deflate his ERA from 13.50 to 6.48 with the start, only striking out one but limiting his walks to one as well. The two-time Cy Young winner has reinvented himself into a weak contact pitcher, and had put that on full display in his five innings against Pittsburgh.
It can be assumed the Red Sox will look to Kluber to eat more innings as the season moves along, but in start No. 2, they decided to play it safe.
