Indians pitchers combine to strike out record 19 Rays in extra-innings win

The strikeout machine, also known as Corey Kluber, was back at it again Thursday afternoon.

Kluber struck out 14 Tampa Bay Rays batters over eight innings of work to increase his yearly total to 141, and move into a tie with Chris Sale for the most whiffs in the majors.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

The Cleveland Indians righty allowed four runs - three earned - on seven hits, but won't be credited with a win after Mike Aviles sealed a 5-4 Tribe victory, and series sweep, with a solo homer in the 10th inning.

"We needed it," Indians manager Terry Francona told reporters. "You can't come into a series getting ahead of yourself, but we needed to get greedy today. You win three and it's easy to go, 'Well, three out of four.' But, we needed to win today and that was a hard one to win. We've got to keep going. This can't be, we take a deep breath, we've played a good series. We've got to get after it."

The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner failed to record a double-digit strikeout game in the month of June, but did so three times in May, including a career-high 18-strikeout performance on May 13 versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Indians relievers Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen added five strikeouts later in the game to Kluber's total. The 19 strikeouts are the most suffered in a single game in Rays' history.

Kluber's dominance overshadowed the return of Rays starter Matt Moore from a lengthy Tommy John rehab.