Stop me if you’ve heard this before – the Cleveland Indians had their ace, Corey Kluber take the mound. He was a little shaky at times, giving up a couple more runs than you’d like to see. Unfortunately, he received very little run support for his trouble.

As Cleveland fans know, this accurately sums up last season for the Tribe. And, wouldn’t you know it, this exact thing happened yet again today in the season opener.

Kluber didn’t have his best stuff today as Cleveland opened the year against the Boston Red Sox, giving up four runs on nine hits. However, if he was hoping to get some offensive help, he was sorely disappointed. The Indians only had about one inning’s worth of offense, otherwise putting up an impressive display of strikeouts.

It’s just one game, and with 161 left in the season, there’s no reason to panic. Still, you wouldn’t blame some for being alarmed about the fact that after a full season of letting the team’s best pitcher down, the Tribe’s offense opened the new year the same exact way.

Again, Kluber didn’t put forth any sort of Cy Young worthy performance today. Despite some solid innings here or there, he got touched up by Boston, and deserves some blame for Cleveland losing their home opener.

At the same time, a lack of offense was the biggest concern with this club coming into the year, and today likely didn’t change any minds.

The Indians only tallied five hits against Boston’s offseason signing David Price, most of which came in the fourth inning. This frame was also the only one in which Cleveland scored. Otherwise, hitters spent most of the afternoon spoiling opportunities, leaving six men on base and going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Granted, the Red Sox were worse at the plate in the same situation, going 1-for-7 and leaving ten men on for the day. However, they sure didn’t whiff as many times as the Indians did.

Cleveland batters struck out 15 times on the day, looking relatively hapless when runs were needed. What’s more ironic is who was doing most of the swinging and missing.

Knowing the club needed offensive talent, Cleveland’s front office instead went bargain shopping, signing long-time vets in Rajai Davis, Mike Napoli, Juan Uribe and Marlon Byrd. In their collective debuts with the Tribe, the club’s marquee signings contributed ten strikeouts.

Yes, it bears repeating that this was just one game, the first of a long season. There’s no sense in determining Cleveland’s opening day is a sign of things to come.

At the same time, you can’t help but be a little alarmed by how the team once again was unable to provide any offense for its best pitcher. It was a huge reason why the Indians struggled last year, and the help the front office brought in to fix it spent most of the day providing some breeze for Boston’s infielders.

Was today a one-game fluke? Or was it proof this team still has the same issues it dealt with last year? It’s way too early to tell, but for the Indians’ sake, hopefully it’s the former.