Corey Kluber may never top his last performance, a dominant outing that will be revered for years to come.
The Cleveland Indians are hoping it's a sign that he's back to the form that won him the Cy Young Award.
Kluber faces off with fellow ace Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.
Kluber (1-5, 4.27 ERA) put together arguably the best performance by any pitcher this season to finally win Wednesday versus St. Louis. He struck out 18, the most in the AL since Roger Clemens in 1998 and tying Bob Feller's club record for a nine-inning game, and yielded one hit over eight innings in the 2-0 victory.
The right-hander had dropped four straight starts while posting a 7.43 ERA, hardly resembling the hurler who won 18 games with a 2.44 mark a year ago. The 18 strikeouts were only three fewer than his total in that four-start stretch, and he didn't walk a batter for the first time this season.
"I think we got a taste of why he won the Cy Young last year," St. Louis' Matt Carpenter said. "His numbers this season don't reflect how good of a pitcher he is. He was as good, if not better, than anybody I've ever faced in the big leagues."
Kluber dismissed the talk of a carryover effect moving forward.
"I think each game is a new game," he told MLB's official website. "All you can do is go out there and try to make good pitches."
The right-hander's run of bad outings began with a 6-0 loss at Chicago on April 22, giving up a season-high six earned runs and a personal-worst 13 hits over six-plus innings. He had a 2.45 ERA in five starts against the White Sox last year.
Sale (3-1, 5.09) also comes off his best outing following a rough patch. After being tagged for 13 runs and 16 hits in his previous two outings, he struck out a season-high 11 while limiting Milwaukee to two runs and three hits over eight innings in a 4-2 road victory Tuesday.
"He's been trying to find it and get a groove going," manager Robin Ventura said. "This is a little more vintage of what you'd expect out of him."
Sale is 3-4 with a 4.92 ERA in 10 career starts against the Indians, failing to complete six innings in four straight prior to his most recent matchup Sept. 5.
The White Sox (17-17) won 7-3 in Oakland on Sunday for their seventh victory in eight games, reaching .500 for the first time.
"Being .500 is important," said Jeff Samardzija, who went eight innings. "You want to be around .500 come summer and fall, knowing you're in the hunt."
Cleveland (14-22) failed to secure its first three-game winning streak Sunday, losing 5-1 at Texas. The offense has scored three runs or fewer four times in the last seven and eight-plus in the other three.
Kluber is hoping to catch his batters on a good day. He's averaging 2.4 runs of support compared to 4.39 last year.
Michael Brantley has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 with eight doubles, four homers and 16 RBIs but hasn't had much success against Sale, going 3 for 22 with 10 strikeouts. Carlos Santana is 7 for 15 against Sale since the start of 2013 but enters in an 0-for-16 slump.
Jose Abreu is 8 for 21 against Kluber and homered off him last month, while Melky Cabrera is 5 for 11.
Chicago is 3-2 in the season series and has won nine of the last 13 meetings at U.S. Cellular Field.
