MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL INDIANS 3, ROYALS 2 (10)

Whew, that's 22

Indians tie Royals in 9th, walk it off in 10th

Cleveland Indians’ Jay Bruce (right) celebrates with teammates after Bruce drove in the winning run with a double off Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Brandon Maurer during the 10th inning of their game Thursday night in Cleveland. The Indians won their record-setting 22nd consecutive game, 3-2.
Cleveland Indians’ Jay Bruce (right) celebrates with teammates after Bruce drove in the winning run with a double off Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Brandon Maurer during the 10th inning of their game Thursday night in Cleveland. The Indians won their record-setting 22nd consecutive game, 3-2.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

INDIANS 3, ROYALS 2 (10)

CLEVELAND -- On a winning streak that just won't stop, the Cleveland Indians have posted shutouts, blowouts and routine victories.

All that was missing were a walk-off victory and extra innings.

"Check those two off," closer Cody Allen said. "We're checking all the boxes."

And check this out: 22 in a row.

Jay Bruce hit an RBI double in the 10th inning -- after Francisco Lindor tied it with a two-out double in the ninth -- as the Indians rallied for their 22nd consecutive victory to extend their AL record, beating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Thursday night.

Cleveland moved within four victories of matching the 1916 New York Giants for the longest streak in major league history.

Even before the rally, Allen looked at his teammates in the bullpen and said he had a feeling something special was about to happen.

"In the ninth, we were saying, 'We're gonna walk them off,' " said Allen (3-6). "We thought we were going to walk them off right there. You win enough games in a lot of different ways, you see what those guys are capable of."

Cleveland tied it in the ninth, then won it in the 10th.

Ramirez led off the 10th with a drive into right-center off Brandon Maurer (2-2) that he turned into a double with a head-first slide, and the crowd of 30,874 started chanting: "Jose, Jose, Jose."

Edwin Encarnacion walked to put runners on first and second, and Bruce, a recent arrival from the New York Mets, ripped a 2-0 pitch into the right-field corner.

Bruce reached second base and was quickly mobbed by his teammates, who doused him with ice water and talcum powder while tearing the front of his jersey and Progressive Field shook as if the Indians had just won a play0ff game in October.

"You never know what you're going to get hit with out there," Bruce said after being dusted with white powder. "It's my first jersey rip off, for sure. They didn't get it all, though."

The Indians, down to their last strike, rallied to tie it at 2-2 off Royals closer Kelvin Herrera, with Lindor delivering his shot off the left-field wall, just above the leap of four-time Gold Glove winner Alex Gordon, to score pinch-runner Erik Gonzalez from first.

"The ball actually hit off the top of my glove," Gordon said. "It was in a perfect spot where you had to decide whether to play it off the wall or go for it. I thought if I played it off the wall, he scores anyway, so I had to go for it."

Lindor's ball caromed off the wall and rolled slowly across the grass in left field, and hometown fans who have watched the Indians overpower teams for the past three weeks soon saw the AL Central leaders pull off their most dramatic victory this season.

The Indians entered the day tied with the 1935 Chicago Cubs for the second-longest streak, and now only trail those 2016 Giants, who won 26 in a row -- all at home.

The Giants won 12 consecutive, played a 1-1 tie, and then won 14 in a row. But because the tied game was replayed from the start the next day, it didn't technically count and therefore didn't stop New York's streak.

The Indians have outscored their opponents 142-37 during this run that has put them on the cusp of another Central title and possibly a finish with the AL's best record.

"This doesn't really happen anywhere," said Bruce, who came over in an Aug. 9 trade from the New York Mets. "You can hit that lull in September and even though you've all but wrapped up the division, you know, the games can get long. They can get boring. They can get monotonous. We have a lot of things going for us that make it not like that.

"People are going crazy. It's a playoff atmosphere. We're trying to get the best record in baseball."

The Indians' streak would have stopped if not for Lindor.

Pinch-hitter Tyler Naquin singled to left with one out in the ninth off Herrera, who then got rookie Francisco Mejia to bounce into a force. But Lindor, the blossoming superstar shortstop who has been Cleveland's best hitter throughout the streak, came through with his double.

photo

AP/DAVID DERMER

The Cleveland Indians celebrate while Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon walks off the field Thursday after the Indians’ 3-2, 10-inning victory over the Royals at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Gordon narrowly missed catching Francisco Lindor’s fly ball with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, which bounced off the wall and tied the game at 2-2.

"For a second, when I hit it, I was like, 'Oh no, I went the other way. I hit it to the wrong guy,' " Lindor said. "Then, I saw it hit the wall and the emotions were pretty high. Just seeing the whole entire crowd was fun, and then seeing your teammates screaming on the top step of the dugout is pretty specia

Sports on 09/15/2017

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