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 consecutive victory.
"It's one of those crazy 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 in a row 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," he said.
The Indians haven't lost since Aug. 23. They have outscored their opponents 118-30 during the streak, but their latest victory 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 home run 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 4⅔ innings. The Orioles were three games out in the wild-card race entering play.
Giovanny Urshela's third-inning double tied it at 1-1. Carlos Santana scored on Bruce's single past a drawn-in infield, then added an RBI double in the fifth.
Lindor hit his 28th home run 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 on Manny Machado's ground ball. Throwing from his back, Urshela nearly got Machado at first.
Machado took third on Adam Jones' single. Mancini then 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 victory Friday in the opener of a 10-game home stand.
ATHLETICS 11, ASTROS 1 Houston's bullpen forced in five runs with bases-loaded walks and the team tied a franchise record with 13 free passes, costing the AL-leading Astros in their second consecutive loss to host Oakland. Oakland led 3-1 before Tyler Clippard issued the first bases-loaded walk to Jed Lowrie in the sixth inning. Reymin Guduan brought in three more while allowing five consecutive walks on 28 pitches in the eighth. Infielder J.D. Davis relieved Guduan and struck out Marcus Semien and Khris Davis, but also allowed another run by walking Chad Pinder. Houston tied the franchise mark for walks set on May 4, 1975 against the San Francisco Giants. The Astros entered the series with a seven-game winning streak. Starter Charlie Morton (11-7) took the loss by allowing three runs in five innings. Daniel Gossett (4-8) had a career-high 7 strikeouts and allowed 1 run over 6-plus innings for his first victory since Aug. 2 and the A's third consecutive overall.
BLUE JAYS 5, TIGERS 4 Kevin Pillar had four hits, including a tiebreaking home run, and made another sparkling defensive play in the outfield, Brett Anderson pitched six innings for his first victory with Toronto and the Blue Jays beat visiting Detroit. Pillar broke a 2-2 tie with a leadoff drive against Warwick Saupold (3-2) in the sixth, helping Toronto snap a three-game losing streak against Detroit. The blast came one inning after Pillar jumped into the center-field wall to snare a deep drive by Tigers infielder Dixon Machado. Besides his 15th home run, Pillar also had an RBI single in the first, an infield single in the fourth and a single in the seventh. The loss ensures the Tigers will not have a winning record for the second time in seven years.
YANKEES 3, RANGERS 1 Aroldis Chapman earned his first save since being removed as closer to finish a one-hitter in New York's victory over host Texas. Tyler Austin hit a go-ahead single in the ninth inning for the wild card-leading Yankees. Texas' only hit was a run-scoring double in the fifth inning off Luis Severino, who went seven innings in his first no-decision since July 15 at Boston. Chapman struck out two in a perfect ninth for his team-leading 17th save in 21 chances and first since Aug. 15. David Robertson (7-2) had a strikeout in a perfect eighth. Chase Headley drove in two runs without a hit -- a tying sacrifice fly in the eighth and a bases-loaded walk for a 3-1 lead in the ninth.
RED SOX 9, RAYS 0 Chris Sale struck out eight over six innings and Dustin Pedroia hit a two-run home run in the first to get Boston’s offense off to a fast start, carrying the Red Sox to a 9-0 victory over visiting Tampa Bay.
ROYALS 5, TWINS 2 Eric Hosmer drove in the go-ahead run with his third hit in a threerun eighth inning, helping host Kansas City beat Minnesota.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BREWERS 15, CUBS 2 Hernan Perez homered and drove in five runs, and Milwaukee pounded host Chicago. Chase Anderson pitched five scoreless innings as Milwaukee pulled within three games of NL Central-leading Chicago. Anderson also helped himself with two hits and two RBI. Milwaukee broke it open with eight runs in the third against Mike Montgomery (5-8) and reliever Justin Grimm. Travis Shaw and Orlando Arcia both hit a two-run double, Ryan Braun scored on a balk by Grimm and Perez had a sacrifice fly.
CARDINALS 4, PIRATES 3 Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenter homered, and St. Louis beat Pittsburgh to gain ground in the NL Central. St. Louis pulled within three games of division-leading Chicago with its sixth victory in seven games. BRAVES 6, MARLINS 5 Ender Inciarte’s bases-loaded walk from Kyle Barraclough with two outs in the ninth inning lifted host Atlanta to a victory over Miami.
METS 6, REDS 1 Rafael Montero overcame five walks to win his third consecutive start, Kevin Plawecki hit a two-run home run and host New York beat Cincinnati.
PADRES 8, DIAMONDBACKS 7 Carlos Asuaje hit a tying single, and an error by left fielder David Peralta allowed the go-ahead run to score as visiting San Diego overcame a five-run deficit in the ninth inning to beat Arizona.
PHILLIES 5, NATIONALS 4 Rhys Hoskins went deep and drew three walks, Maikel Franco hit his 20th home run and visiting Philadelphia beat Washington.
INTERLEAGUE
WHITE SOX 13, GIANTS 1 Jose Abreu became the first White Sox player to hit for the cycle in 17 years, among six Chicago players to go deep in a rout of visiting San Francisco.
Going streaking
Here’s a list of the longest MLB winning streaks since World War I:
Chicago Cubs (1935) 21
Oakland A’s (2002) 20
New York Yankees (1947) 19
New York Yankees (1953) 19
Philadelphia A’s (1931) 17
Pittsburgh Pirates (1937) 17
Pittsburgh Pirates (1938) 17
Cleveland Indians (2017) 17
Sports on 09/10/2017