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Kluber, Indians cool off Orioles

May 24, 2014 - 10:00 PM Baltimore, MD (SportsNetwork.com) - Corey Kluber struck out nine over seven scoreless innings and the Cleveland Indians blanked the hot-hitting Baltimore Orioles, 9-0, in the third installment of a four-game series.

Kluber (5-3) scattered five hits and two walks against an Orioles lineup that had recorded at least 12 hits in five straight games coming in.

His teammates broke open a scoreless tie with five runs in the fifth inning, and they made it a rout with four more in the seventh.

"They were great today," Kluber said of Cleveland's lineup. "They put together those two big innings...and made the other team work a lot."

Lonnie Chisenhall went 2-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, Carlos Santana hit a two-run homer and Ryan Raburn doubled in a pair for Cleveland, which earned its fifth win in six games.

Ubaldo Jimenez (2-6) was touched for five runs on four hits and five walks in a forgettable outing against his former team.

"He just didn't have it today," Orioles catcher Steve Clevenger said of his battery mate. "That's going to happen from time to time."

Jimenez, who pitched for the Indians the previous three seasons, only allowed two hits out of the infield but struggled with his control and was pulled after failing to record an out in the fifth.

With runners on first and second, Jonathan Schoop made a nice stop on Justin Sellers's chopper up the middle, but his underhand toss to second got under J.J. Hardy's glove, allowing Santana to score the game's first run.

Mike Aviles ended Jimenez's outing with a run-scoring bloop single to left, and T.J. McFarland was unable to stop the bleeding.

The reliever plunked Michael Brantley with the bases loaded to force in a run, gave up an RBI single to Chisenhall and yielded another run on Raburn's double-play ball.

Four more runs were tacked on in the seventh as Raburn doubled past a diving Ryan Flaherty and into left field to drive in Brantley and Chisenhall, and Santana took Brad Brach deep for a comfortable 9-0 cushion.

Baltimore, after totaling 38 runs over the previous five games, only managed one extra-base hit and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

John Axford and Marc Rzepczynski each pitched an inning of relief behind Kluber to finish off the shutout.

Game Notes

Brantley extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the seventh inning ... The Orioles were trying to match a club record by scoring at least six runs in six straight games ... Baltimore fell to 5-12 (.294) in day games, the worst mark in baseball ... Before the game, Baltimore acquired catcher Nick Hundley and cash considerations from the San Diego Padres in exchange for pitcher Troy Patton.