Indians win club-record 15th straight
Rockies blow past Dodgers, Twins rally in ninth against Royals to extend lead for second WC spot
>> CHICAGO: The Cleveland Indians set a franchise record with their 15th consecutive win on Thursday night, beating the Chicago White Sox 11-2 behind another terrific outing for Corey Kluber.
Cleveland also belted five homers while becoming the first major league team with a 15-game winning streak since Oakland won 20 in a row in 2002. Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run drive in the first, Francisco Lindor connected in the second, Erik Gonzalez went deep twice and Greg Allen hit his first major league homer in the seventh.
Kluber (15-4) struck out 13 in seven innings. Yolmer Sanchez and Jose Abreu homered in the first for Chicago, but Kluber allowed only one more hit — a fifth-inning single for Omar Narvaez.
The last-place White Sox turned to Mike Pelfrey after left-hander Carlos Rodon was scratched with shoulder stiffness. Pelfrey (3-11), who threw 40 pitches in 2-1/3 relief innings on Tuesday night, allowed seven runs and eight hits in four innings.
In Los Angeles, Nolan Arenado hit a three-run homer off a labouring Clayton Kershaw, sending Los Angeles to a 9-1 defeat — their seventh straight and 12th in 13 games.
The NL West leaders haven’t lost that many since May 2013, when they dropped eight in a row. Their 92-48 record is still baseball’s best, but they continue to founder with the playoffs approaching.
Coming off a three-game sweep by Arizona, the Dodgers were hopeful Kershaw (16-3) could stop the slide like he did last week when he snapped their five-game skid with a 1-0 victory at San Diego.
Instead, he got yanked early. The Rockies pounded out 16 hits and took full advantage of the Dodgers’ faltering bullpen that surrendered five runs. Fans booed Josh Ravin when he gave up back-to-back bases-loaded walks in the seventh as the Rockies batted around.
Colorado’s Jon Gray (7-4) allowed one run and four hits in six innings, struck out three and walked two.
In Kansas City, Jorge Polanco’s two-run, two-out single in a threerun ninth inning lifted Minnesota over Kansas City 4-2.
The loss dropped the Royals 3½ games behind the Twins in the race for the second American League wildcard. Minnesota were limited to one run and six hits for the first eight innings before rallying in the ninth off Kelvin Herrera (3-3).
Max Kepler led off the inning with a single. With one out, Jason Castro hit a fly ball down the left field line that shortstop Alcides Escobar nearly caught, but it fell for a single. After Robbie Grossman walked, Brian Dozier’s sacrifice fly tied it before Polanco’s hit.
In Baltimore, Aaron Judge and Chase Headley each hit two-run homers as New York belted four long balls in their 9-1 win.
Starlin Castro and Todd Frazier added solo homers as the Yankees took two of three in the series. It was the first time they won a set at Camden Yards since 2014 — a span of 11 series.
In San Diego, Dexter Fowler struck out against Brad Hand with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, capping San Diego’s 5-0 win over St Louis.
Hand allowed singles by Stephen Piscotty, Randal Grichuk and Carson Kelly in the ninth inning before getting Fowler to whiff on a slider in the dirt. Hand got his 16th save.