MINNEAPOLIS – When Greg Swindell pitched for the Indians, he used to calculate his ERA walking to and from the mound. No, he did not have a calculator in his back pocket.

CC Sabathia once said that he started thinking no-hitter as soon as he threw a hitless first inning. So when Corey Kluber says he has no idea how many strikeouts he has during a game, well, maybe he doesn't.

Or maybe he's got so many, it's hard to keep count.

Kluber struck out 14 for his second straight start Sunday in the Indians' 7-2 victory over the Twins. Through the first six innings, he had two or more strikeouts per inning. Including his start Thursday against Houston, he had 13 consecutive multi-strikeout innings before the streak ended in the seventh.

"I had no idea," said Kluber.

Kluber said he'd much rather get an out on a first pitch than strike out a hitter, but his AL-leading 258 Ks along with his 17-9 record and 2.54 ERA give him a chance to be the Indians' third Cy Young winner since 2007 and fourth overall.

It's understandable that he doesn't want to talk about the statistical part of his season when the Indians still have a chance to make the postseason with seven games left. They trail Detroit by five games in the AL Central, but their real chance is in the wild card. They trail Kansas City by 3½ games – Seattle is only 1½ games behind the Royals – for the second wild card spot.

The Royals and Indians play a four-game series starting Monday at Progressive Field.

"When the year's over, that's stuff that you'll take a second to look at and appreciate," said Kluber. "But, right now, it's not important."

Well, if Kluber won't talk about it, at least let's take a look at some of the statistics he's compiled.

Kluber's 258 strikeouts lead the big leagues.

In 20 of his 33 starts, Kluber has eight or more strikeouts.

In 10 of his 33 starts, he has 10 or more strikeouts.

Following a three-start losing streak, Kluber has won his last four starts with 43 strikeouts and a 1.39 ERA.

His 258 strikeouts represent the 10th best single-season mark in team history. He moved past Hall of Famer Bob Feller's 1939 total of 246 on Sunday. Feller is the franchise leader with 348 strikeouts in 1946.

Kluber is the ninth pitcher in history to strike out 14 or more in consecutive games. Those nine have done it a total of 15 times. Arizona's Randy Johnson was the last to do it in 2004.

Sam McDowell is the only other Indian to do it. McDowell did it twice in 1968 when he struck out 283.

Kluber joins McDowell, Feller, Herb Score and Luis Tiant as the only Indians pitchers to strike out 250 or more batters in a season.

When Kluber struck out Oswaldo Arcia in the second inning Sunday, it set a single-season club record by the staff of 1,380 strikeouts. The old record was set last year.

Here is the list of pitchers Kluber joined by striking out 14 or more batters in consecutive games: Johnson (four times), Pedro Martinez (three), Roger Clemens, Jose Rijo, Dwight Gooden, Mickey Lolich, Bob Gibson, McDowell (twice).

Michael Bourn has player center field behind Kluber for much of the season. Here's what he saw Sunday in a game the Indians had to win.

"He was being a horse out there, the ace, throwing 120 pitches," said Bourn. "That's the kind of stuff you look for from the ace of the staff."

Bourn says Kluber has great stuff, but there's more to it than that. "The stuff is good, but his thought process along with the stuff is what separates him," he said.

Manager Terry Francona appreciated Kluber's 120-pitch effort Sunday because it bought another day's for his hard-working bullpen, especially closer Cody Allen and set-up men Scott Atchison and Bryan Shaw. If the Indians are to sneak in the back door of the postseason, those three will be used a lot in the next seven games.

"That's my goal every time out there, to try to go as long as I can," said Kluber. "Obviously, there are situations where it might be a little bit more important than others, whether it be a doubleheader or the bullpen got taxed a few days before.

"But I don't really change my mindset during those. I just try to do the same thing and stay out there as long as I can."

Kluber (17-9, 2.54) allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk to go along with his 14 strikeouts.

"I think the strikeouts are a byproduct of a really good pitcher," said Francona. "I think you go through periods where those things happen.

"Coming into the game, the Twins have had a really good approach to him. You look at the matchups and they have guys that have found ways to get hits off him -- they hit the ball the other way -- but he established his fastball right away and then he had his breaking ball. He was just really good."

The Indians won the season series from the Twins, 11-8.