Last season, Corey Kluber and Phil Hughes combined for 34 wins.
On merit, too. Kluber pitched well enough to beat out Felix Hernandez for the Cy Young Award, and Hughes finished his season with the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the majors. Of all time.
Monday night, Kluber got knocked around by the Royals. In five starts, he's winless.
Wednesday, Hughes was beating the Tigers 7-3 before leaving with an injury. The bullpen blew the lead. In five starts, he's winless.
So were Kluber and Hughes just one-hit wonders last season?
Nah, probably not.
Hughes is again striking out 11 hitters for every one he walks, which is (again) historic. He has given up a few home runs, which was generally a bugaboo for him before last season. But with so many strikeouts and so few walks, it's hard to figure he'll throw a bunch of gopher balls this season. Seems more likely that he'll be outstanding again.
Meanwhile, Kluber's fielding-independent pitching stats are almost EXACTLY the same as last season. He, too, figures to pitch brilliantly for the rest of this season.
Wins can be hard to come by, but aces are even harder to find. The Indians and Twins remain lucky to have these guys.
