HOUSTON (AP) – Corey Kluber, the Cleveland Indians' ace, claimed that Friday's loss had nothing to do with his playoff problems last season.

It looked a lot like that.

A year after being badly hit twice in the playoffs, it happened everywhere. The Houston Astros scored for three homers and beat the Indians 7-2 in the first game of the AL Division series.

"I do not think they're related," Kluber said. "I do not think that the starts of the last playoff series have had an impact on today's day – I've just made a few mistakes with the wrong guys."

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Kluber's performance follows an excellent regular season in which he won the top 20 of his career, recording a silver medal of 2.89 on a 215-run lead.

Last season, Kluber scored 18-4 with a 2.25 MLB average in the regular season to win his second AL Cy Young award. In the playoffs, however, Kluber's ERA jumped to 12.79 in two starts after allowing nine runs and four homers in two ALDS attempts against the New York Yankees.

Kluber also enjoyed success at this time of year, having almost pushed the Indians into the 2016 championship. Cleveland has not won the World Series since 1948 and relied on Kluber to lead them away.

Like right-winger, Indian manager Terry Francona also said Kluber's playoffs in 2017 were not tied to his playoff debut in 2018.

"Last year has nothing to do with today," said Francona. "They are a good team, they made some mistakes, they made him pay for it."

When asked if he thought Kluber was in good health, Francona – apparently surprised by the question – replied, "Kluber? Oh, yes."

Kluber struggled to find his position early, hitting two batters after diving only three times in the regular season. But he did not allow a shot before the fourth run, when Alex Bregman opened the scoring. After walking Yuli Gurriel, Kluber gave two singles to Tyler White and Josh Reddick, which resulted in another run.

George Springer started the fifth inning with a 402-foot circuit. Two lands later, Jose Altuve was also connected, sending a drive to the Crawford Box left field that put Houston 4-0.

"I just left the ball raised in relation to the plate and I chose the three bad guys to do it," Kluber said. "You must be able to keep the ball in the stadium in these matches."

Marwin Gonzalez sued Kluber with a single in the fifth inning. In 4 2/3 innings, Kluber allowed four runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

Kluber has faced the Astros twice this season, both in May. At the first start in Houston, Kluber conceded two runs and six hits and took out ten in seven innings of a 5-4 win. Six days later, he held the goal-scorched Astros in 6 1/3 innings in a loss of 11-2.

"We have a lot of respect for him and we all know how good he is," said Altuve. "We were all aware of this, sometimes facing a guy like him, the only thing you can control is to change the pace, it was our state of mind, we were pretty good since the first pitch. and he has passed good things today. "

Astros manager AJ Hinch said that finding success against Kluber meant staying patient and capitalizing on mistakes.

"It's not an easy guy to center, so you have to be disciplined on which side of the plate you're going to choose and which one of his fields is moving around where you're going to focus," Hinch said. said. "And do not miss one, two, or three mistakes that he might make from time to time."