Cleveland Indians: Remembering The Streak (Week 1)

From August 24 through September 21, 2017 the Cleveland Indians won an American League record 22 consecutive games. This series looks back at the high points.

On August 24, 2017 the Cleveland Indians took the field at home against the Boston Red Sox. They were trying to avoid a sweep, having lost fairly convincingly the prior two nights (6-1 and 9-1).

The 2017 Indians were streaky. To that point in the season they had a nine-game winning streak and two six-game winning streaks. But there was no reason to think they were about to go on a tear like no other in baseball history. In fact there was more of a concern with the Minnesota Twins catching them. On August 24, the Twins were 4.5 games back.

And with Trevor Bauer going up against Chris Sale, people might not have felt good about the Indians starting a one-game winning streak.

Game one: Indians 13, Red Sox 6

Six runs would be the most any team scored against the Indians during the streak. In fact, there would be four series where the opponents didn’t score six runs in the series.

That said, the six runs never put the Red Sox in the lead. The Indians scored four off Sale in the second. The Red Sox made it 4-1 in the top of the third with a Mitch Moreland home run.

The Indians plated three more in the bottom of the third. The Red Sox got as close as 7-4, but a home run by Jay Bruce and another by Frankie Lindor put the game out of reach.

Running totals after two games: Opponents runs: 6. Indians home runs: 3.

Game three:  Indians 4 again, Royals 0 again

When you think about the Royals now you might not remember it, but the Royals were an over .500 team when they came to Cleveland in 2017. They haven’t been near that since but at the time they were not good but not terrible.

This was the game of home runs. Robbie Perez hit a two-run home run to break the tie in the sixth. One inning later Edwin Encarnacion and Carlos Santana each hit a solo shot. Game over.

Star of the game: Mike Clevinger.  Six shutout innings, four hits, two walks and nine strikeouts.

Running totals after three games: Opponents runs: 6. Indians home runs: 6.

Game four:  Indians 12, Royals “the usual please” 0

Three in the first, nine in the second, and we have a four-game winning streak. Frankie, Carlos and Yan do a little yard work. Yan’s home run was of the salami variety, something that will be considered in the next paragraph.

Star of the game: Yan Gomes. At this point, grand slams are more rare than shutout efforts. But we also award a star to Carlos Carrasco, who goes seven shutout innings, six hits, no walks and eight strikeouts.

Running totals after four games: Opponents runs 6. Indians home runs: 9.

The Indians closed the homestand and headed to New York for a three-game set. This is the great thing about writing Indians history. We already know that three-game set is going to have a happy ending.