Cleveland Indians

Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez was wild on Tuesday at home against the Royals. Jimenez gave up just two hits but was on the hook for the losing decision before Cleveland rallied late in the game.

Jimenez, who remains 5-4 on the season with the no-decision, walked four batters and threw 114 pitches over 5 2/3 innings as he allowed just two earned runs, both coming in the third inning. He struck out four.

Jimenez has gone 2-1 in his last four outings but has mostly pitched well in those starts with just six runs allowed over 21 2/3 innings with 18 Ks. Jimenez is scheduled to make his next start Monday at Baltimore.

Indians acting closer Vinnie Pestano recorded a save Tuesday night at home against the Royals despite Cleveland not taking a lead until it scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. 

Pestano recorded his second save though he gave up three hits and a walk in the ninth to protect a one-run lead. He got a strikeout and baserunning error by the Royals. Pestano needed 22 pitches and his ERA is at 4.05. 

With Chris Perez on the mend, Pestano's time as closer may be nearing an end. 

Indians closer Chris Perez began his rehab assignment with Double-A Akron Tuesday, as expected, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. 

Perez pitched one inning and allowed three home runs en route to giving up five runs on five hits and a hit batter. He had two strikeouts in the wild performance. Perez threw a scoreless inning for Class A Lake County Sunday. He allowed two hits and struck out one.

When Chris Perez went on the DL with a strained rotator cuff May 27, many Fantasy owners rushed to pick up his replacement, Vinnie Pestano, wondering if he could turn this short-term opportunity into a long-term role.

Three weeks later, Perez is on the verge of returning, and Pestano still has just one save to his name. We'll never know what might have been if Pestano had pulled an Andrew Bailey, piling up half a dozen saves as a stand-in. The Indians didn't win enough to see what he could do in the role, so you have to assume they'll revert to what made him comfortable in the first place.

Come Friday, Perez will be back to closing for the Indians, and Pestano will be no more than waiver fodder in Fantasy.

Going back as far as Class A ball, Corey Kluber has put up some nice strikeout-to-walk ratios, but they didn't always translate into low ERAs. As Chris Cwik pointed out in an analysis earlier this month, a high BABIP rate has put a damper on Kluber's surface stats for the Indians, but in just over a month's time, Kluber has shaved more than two runs off his ERA.

Not only has Kluber been getting more outs on balls in play, compiling a .303 BABIP over his last seven starts, but overall this season, he has been stranding more of his baserunners. Kluber has a long history of subpar strand rates (established mostly in the minors), but this year his rate is a very normal-looking 73 percent.

Low strand rates are usually signs of better luck to come, but some pitchers, like Rick Porcello and Jeff Francis, have been mired in them for years. If Kluber can stay on his current course and keep a decent proportion of his runners from scoring, he is going to be able to help owners in standard mixed leagues over the rest of this season.