16 September, 2017
Shortstop Francisco Lindor struck out with the tying run on first, the final out of a 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field in Cleveland that ended the Indians' major league record 22-game winning streak.
The Indians announced on September 15 that all tickets had been sold for the 4:10 p.m. game on September 16 against the Kansas City Royals.
After Cleveland tied it at 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out, two-strike RBI double by Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez led off the bottom of the 10th with a hustle double to center field off Brandon Maurer (2-2). Cleveland extended the historic winning streak an inning later and the story rolls on.
It was quite the ride, one that nobody really expected, but a great surprise for the city of Cleveland and the fan base. Rather, the end was marked by a perfunctory performance that comes often over a 162-game season, yet one the Indians somehow managed to avoid for almost a month as they played peerless baseball and eventually captivated the baseball-watching public.
Because of the loss to the Royals (73-74), the Indians' "Magic Number" to clinch their second straight AL Central Division Championship remained at three.
DODGERS 7, NATIONALS 0: Alex Wood threw six shutout innings, Corey Seager hit a three-run homer during a five-run second and Los Angeles continued its rebound with a win at Washington.
"We've got to try to put together a run and then see how it plays out", said Royals pitcher Jason Vargas.
Trevor Bauer had another very good outing, allowing two runs on seven hits and seven strikeouts over 6.1 innings.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona said he hoped the streak, during which the Indians outscored their opponents by 105 runs, was just a taste of things to come. Why else did they all tear the jersey off rightfielder Jay Bruce-a Met 37 days ago-after he hit a walk-off double to beat the Royals, who haven't been a threat in weeks?
With the winning streak halted, the Cleveland Indians can't be too disappointed with a 91-57 record overall and 43-30 at home.
Chad Kuhl gave up all four home runs, a single-game career high for the second-year right-hander.
Gary Sanchez added his 31st homer to go back-to-back with Judge in the sixth, and NY rolled to a 13-2 lead and its ninth victory in 12 games. Third-year student Joel Alder thinks they have a chance to make a run, however.
St. Louis has won 11 of 14 and can catch Chicago with a sweep in the three-game series. In fact, the team has not trailed at the end of 185 innings (out of 189) during the streak: that's 98 percent of the time.
