They did it again! The Cleveland Indians won their twelfth consecutive ballgame on Wednesday evening, beating the Atlanta Braves 3-0. Coincidentally, they also swept the series at Turner Field by winning all three games. This marks the first time the Indians have won 12 games in a row since 1951, when they reeled off a 13-game winning streak.
Indians starter Danny Salazar pitched a fine game, giving up five hits over seven innings of work. He struck out eight, and he didn’t walk a batter. Salazar got off to a rocky start by giving up a leadoff double to Jace Peterson, who advanced to third when Salazar balked. But Peterson was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on Ender Inciarte‘s grounder to third. A wild pitch moved Inciarte to second base, but he was stranded there when Salazar retired the next two batters. That was the only rocky inning of Salazar’s night.
Making his major league debut, Braves starter Joel De La Cruz pitched well enough to win many games, giving up three runs over six innings. He also got a solid single in his first at-bat. But in the fifth inning, De La Cruz gave up a single and a ground-rule double, putting runners on second and third. Jason Kipnis drove them in with a single to left field. Lonnie Chisenhall padded the score with a solo homer in the sixth inning.
Bryan Shaw pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Cody Allen gave Tribe fans heart palpitations by letting the tying run come to the plate in the ninth, but he retired the last batter on a fielder’s choice, and there was joy in Mudville—I mean, in Cleveland.
The Indians are now 6-0 on a ten-game road trip, which will conclude with a four-game series with the Blue Jays in Toronto. Carlos Carrasco is scheduled to start for the Tribe on Thursday. With any luck, he’ll pitch the team to victory, boosting the winning streak to 13.
About the photo: When I was a young lad in the early 1970s, I used to spend my meager allowance on 45 RPM records. When I decided to branch out into buying albums, I gravitated toward greatest hits records, figuring they would give me the biggest bang for my buck. The record above was one of the first albums I ever paid for with my own money, perhaps the very first one. I liked two or three of the songs on the LP cover and I figured I’d probably like the others, too. Let’s just say this wasn’t the last mistake I’d ever make. Still, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Tommy Roe, and when I found out I’d be writing this recap, I knew right away that I’d use this album cover if I got the chance. And I did.
I hope this prediction is as accurate as Stephen A. Smith picking the winner of the NBA championship, but tomorrow’s game has me worried about the longevity of this wonderful winning streak. R.A. Dickey has a good track record against the Tribe, and as good as the pitching staff has been, they haven’t faced an offense like Toronto’s in quite some time. That said, let’s go Tribe, keep the streak alive!
If I remember right there stats aren’t that bad facing him but I could be wrong
Because I have an incessant desire to be right all the time, I checked into Dickey’s stats against the Indians since he’s been in Toronto. He has gone at least 6 innings in every start and hasn’t given up more than 3 earned runs in any of his 4 starts against the Tribe. Last year he threw a complete game, only giving up 4 hits and 1 run, but he only went 6 innings in his 3 starts prior to that and none of those starts are what I would call dominant. So perhaps last year’s start was just really fresh in my mind, however, 4 quality starts in 4 tries against our team qualifies as a good track record to me. Let’s hope Dickey’s knuckler isn’t dancing around like Maksim Chmerwhatshisface from Dancing with the Stars and we can get this streak to 13.
Side note, I don’t actually watch Dancing with the Stars, I just felt like that was a good reference to make under the current circumstance, and from the Wikipedia page for the show, Maksim had the best name to potentially enhance the hilarity of my joke. I hope my few extra minutes of research were beneficial to the overall effectiveness of this post.