How did Corey Kluber look in his second spring start for the Texas Rangers?
Corey Kluber was happy.
In his second spring training start for the Texas Rangers, the right-hander held the San Diego Padres hitless through the first three innings. The lone run he allowed in the fourth inning — his scheduled final inning of the night — scored after Tommy Pham started the inning with a double off the glove of third baseman Todd Frazier. Pham later scored on Eric Hosmer’s sacrifice fly to center field. Former Ranger Jurickson Profar singled up the middle with two outs before Kluber ended the inning with a flyout.
“I got through the four [innings]. The most important part of the spring is getting the volume built up,” said Kluber, who walked two and struck out two. “I wouldn’t say it was my cleanest outing but I think it’s good to get in the mode where if you have a miss, you make the correction and come back with a better pitch.”
After allowing walk in the third inning, Kluber struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
“I want to get in the mode of competing and trying to get guys out so I try to go out there and use my pitches like I normally would in a game,” said Kluber who threw about 65 pitches. He was on a pitch limit of 70. “I’m just trying to make good pitches and get outs. Whether it’s a strikeout or a ground ball, fly ball. There are certain situations in the game where a strikeout is ideal, but I don’t go out there trying to strike people out. I’m trying to make a quality pitch and hopefully get soft contact.”
After a one-out walk in the first inning, Kluber induced Manny Machado into a double-play to short stop with a fastball away.
“Results-wise he was really good,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “He executed a lot of pitches when he needed to. Not a lot of hard contact. It was good to get him out in the lights, too. He came out of it healthy.”
The Rangers took a 3-2 lead with two runs in the top of the ninth but the Padres rallied to win 4-3 with two runs in the bottom of the 9th.
