Make it 17: Indians win 17th straight, beat Orioles

CLEVELAND — The crowd of 30,459 stood and cheered as Cody Allen fanned Trey Mancini for the final out.

Make it 17 in a row for the Cleveland Indians.

Francisco Lindor homered and Allen finished off another impressive performance for Cleveland’s bullpen, helping the Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 on Saturday for their 17th straight victory.

“It’s one of crazy those things where you’re just playing good baseball,” said Allen, who earned his 25th save. “We’re not really thinking about it as much as you guys are.”

Cleveland’s franchise-record streak is the longest in the majors since Oakland won 20 straight in 2002. The longest streak in baseball history belongs to the New York Giants, who had a 26-game run in 1916, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Giants’ streak included a tie, which doesn’t count as a game in baseball.

Jay Bruce’s fourth-inning single put the Indians ahead to stay, and Josh Tomlin (9-9) pitched into the sixth to win his fifth consecutive decision.

“It’s kind of weird, but it’s also a lot of fun,” Tomlin said.

The Indians haven’t lost since Aug. 23. They have outscored their opponents 118-30 during the streak, but their latest win was a close one.

The Orioles jumped in front on Mancini’s infield hit in the first. It was the first time since Cleveland’s last loss that the Indians didn’t score first.

Tomlin was pulled after Tim Beckham’s 20th homer leading off the sixth. Five relievers then combined for four innings of one-hit ball.

“They’re a heck of a team, man,” Beckham said. “They have everything they need to win ballgames. You just give it your all and don’t waste any at-bats because you can’t afford to.”

Baltimore rookie Gabriel Ynoa (1-1), making his first start of the season, allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings. The Orioles were three games out in the wild-card race entering play.

Giovanny Urshela’s third-inning double tied it at 1. Carlos Santana scored on Bruce’s single past a drawn-in infield, and then added an RBI double in the fifth.

Lindor hit his 28th homer in the seventh.

The Indians nearly pulled off two spectacular defensive plays in the first. Urshela, playing second base for the first time in the majors, made a diving stop behind the bag of Manny Machado’s ground ball. Throwing from his back, Urshela nearly got Machado at first.

Machado took third on Adam Jones’ single. Mancini hustled down the line to beat a strong throw from shortstop Lindor, who ranged behind second for his grounder.

The Indians went 11-0 on a road trip that ended Thursday. Cleveland extended the streak with a 5-0 win Friday in the opener of a 10-game homestand.

ROLLING ALONG

Cleveland slugger Edwin Encarnacion singled in the seventh and has reached base via a hit or walk in 32 consecutive games.

FOR STARTERS

Orioles right fielder Austin Hays made his first big league start, batting ninth and going 0 for 2. A third-round pick in the 2016 draft, Hays hit .329 with 32 homers and 95 RBIs before his promotion from Double-A Bowie.

NEXT MAN UP

Cleveland’s winning streak has come with a pair of 2017 All-Stars on the disabled list — ace reliever Andrew Miller (right knee tendinitis) and left fielder Michael Brantley (sprained right ankle). Second baseman Jason Kipnis (strained right hamstring) is also on the DL.

“I remember there was a day in here a while back and I said something about this could be our time to shine,” manager Terry Francona said. “Guys get chances that maybe wouldn’t of before.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: 2B Jose Ramirez (sore wrist) missed his third straight game. He hit seven homers and drove in nine runs during the team’s unbeaten road trip.

UP NEXT

Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Hellickson makes his eighth start since being acquired from Philadelphia on July 28. He is 2-3 with a 6.87 ERA with the Orioles. Cleveland right-hander Trevor Bauer seeks to extend his career-long winning streak to nine games. He is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA in four career starts against Baltimore.

source: sports.inquirer.net

‘Next year’ finally arrives for joyous Chicago Cubs fans

CHICAGO — Next year is here.

At exactly 11:47 p.m. local time, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series that has eluded them for 108 years. Fans who packed bars to watch the games on television near Wrigley Field — neither of which existed back in 1908 — erupted in cheers before swarming onto the streets just before midnight Wednesday to celebrate in the shadows of the statues of Cubs greats Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and legendary announcer Harry Caray.

As the game ended, the roar from inside the bars and the throng of fans on the street was deafening, before the crowds both inside and out sang “go Cubs go” at the top of their lungs.

As the celebration progressed, thousands of fans poured into the streets leading away from Wrigley, many of them singing “We Are The Champions.”

Fans hugged each other, many of them crying. They took each other’s picture and pictures of themselves, and took turns writing their names and words of congratulations in chalk on Wrigley’s brick walls. Some got on friends’ shoulders to find spots high up on the walls that were not yet covered with names of fans.

An hour after the game ended there were still thousands of people in the ballpark neighborhood, known as Wrigleyville, and there were still fireworks exploding every few minutes.

“This was torture,” said Mike Delmanowski, a lifelong Cubs fan who flew to Chicago from California just to be surrounded by other Cubs fans. “I would not have missed it for anything.

“I am so proud to be a part of it,” said his wife, Sue, who was crying off and on from the fifth inning.

Mike Dillon said all he could think about was his father, who died without ever seeing what Dillon witnessed.

“I came here by myself, but I’m not alone at all,” said Mike Dillon, 57, of Joliet.

Craig and April Likhite drove to Chicago from Evanston with their 10-year-old son, Cade, because they wanted to see history made with other fans as close to Wrigley Field as possible.

“To finally see this in my lifetime with my son here with us, it means everything,” Craig Likhite said. “This game with all the ups and downs showed him exactly what it is to be a Cubs fan.”

“My dad passed away this year. He would have loved this,” said Likhite, 50.

Judy Pareti flew in from New York City to watch the game at Murphy’s Bleachers, a neighborhood sports bar in a building where her grandfather lived and where his hot dog stand was located. “My dad and grandfather owned it, and I was born here,” she said. “I would never want to be anywhere but here for this.”

Liz Wolfe, a 36-year-old physical therapist, said, “People always said if the Cubs win the World Series it would be like hell freezing over. I’m still in shock. This is the most exciting thing in my life.”

Long-time Cubs fan Bob Newhart, who grew up in the Chicago area, tweeted his congratulations to the team. “The billy goat is dead!! As I’ve said, from the beginning, I’m getting too old for this!,” the 87-year-old comedian wrote, alluding to one of the oldest alleged curses on the team.

The 8-7 extra-inning victory over the Indians at Progressive Field in Cleveland came after the emptiness and bitterness of years past when the Cubs found spectacular and sometimes downright strange ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Every Cubs fan knows those stories, starting with the 1969 team loaded with Hall of Famers that amassed a 9 1/2-game lead in mid-August before they started losing game after game in such numbers that the Miracle Mets not only caught them but ended up winning the National League East by 8 games.

Then came 1984. After taking the first two games of the National League Divisional Series against the Padres at Wrigley, the Cubs needed just one win in San Diego to advance to the NLCS. They were swept in three games on the West Coast.

There were other playoff losses but none as painful as in 2003 when in a where-were-you-when-it-happened moment that Cubs fans still have trouble comprehending, Steve Bartman deflected a ball that seemed destined for Moises Alou’s glove with the Cubs just five outs from reaching the World Series.

Fans watched in horror as the Cubs fell apart, and few who left the park that night believed the team would win game seven the next night. They didn’t.

But that was all in the past as Cubs fans throughout Chicago celebrated into the early hours of Thursday.

source: sports.inquirer.net