Clevinger, Tribe extend streak to 16
CLEVELAND — Mike Clevinger continued a dominant stretch for Indians starting pitchers Friday, holding Baltimore scoreless through six innings, while Edwin Encarnacion and the Tribe offense took care of the rest in a 5-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
The win pushed Cleveland’s franchise-record winning streak to 16 games, and reduced the team’s magic number to clinch the American League Central Division to 11 over the second-place Minnesota Twins.
Cleveland’s string is the longest in the majors since Oakland won 20 straight in 2002. The longest winning streak in major-league history is 21 by the 1935 Chicago Cubs.
The 1916 New York Giants had a string of 26 wins and one tie.
Entering Friday’s game, Indians starters had posted a 1.91 ERA in their last 15 games.
Clevinger (9-5) scattered three hits and walked three, striking out seven. He became the first Indians pitcher since John Denny in 1981 to post three consecutive scoreless starts of six innings or more.
“He had a couple walks early, but he wasn’t wild,” manager Terry Francona said of Clevinger. “He just missed a bunch, but he came back and made some full-count pitches, off-speed in fastball counts. I thought (catcher Roberto Perez) did a really good job with him tonight.”
The lanky righthander walked a pair of batters in the second inning, but got a double-play ground ball to third off the bat of Trey Mancini to help him escape unscathed.
“We’re feeding off the energy of each previous outing and it’s fun,” Clevinger said. “We’re having a lot of fun here.”
Meanwhile, Cleveland’s offense has put the opposition away early and often during the streak.
On Friday, it was Encarnacion delivering the big blow off Orioles starter Wade Miley in the first inning.
Francisco Lindor walked, Austin Jackson grounded into a fielder’s choice and Yandy Diaz singled to right, setting up Encarnacion’s 34th home run of the season.
Diaz doubled in the sixth inning and moved to third on a grounder by Encarnacion before Carlos Santana chased him home with an RBI double that also chased Miley (8-12) from the game.
Cleveland loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning before reliever Richard Bleier uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Lindor to score from third.