Lindor homers, Indians keep winning
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona wanted to rest one of his middle infielders for Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Los Angeles Angels. His choices were limited: shortstop Francisco Lindor or second baseman Jose Ramirez.
Lindor insisted that he wanted to play. Ramirez has a sore left hamstring, so Francona picked Ramirez to take a seat. Safe to say he made the right choice.
With the score tied at 1 in the fifth inning, Lindor hit a three-run homer to keep this victory march going and going and going. The 4-1 win, which completed a three-game sweep at Angel Stadium, gave the Indians 27 wins in their past 28 games.
The 2017 Indians and the 1884 Providence Grays — 133 years apart — are the only teams to have ever won 27 of 28. The Grays ended up winning 28 of 29, leaving the Indians one game shy of matching that mark.
“We want to keep it going,” Indans reliever Dan Otero said. “I mean, it’s crazy. That stuff doesn’t happen in baseball.”
Since a loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sept. 15 snapped an American Leaguerecord 22-game winning streak, the Indians have won five in a row. Their win total stands at 96 games, the most since 2007, and they still have nine games to play before starting the postseason on Oct. 5.
Cleveland is only one game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best overall record and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
“We just focus on what we have in front of our feet,” Lindor said. “We really don’t pay attention to any other teams.”
Lindor hit his 32nd homer of the season over Mike Trout’s head in center field and into the trees behind the fence. On Wednesday night, he shattered another tie, this time with a two-run homer into the seats in right-center field. The Indians won that game 6-5 over an opponent desperate to overtake the Minnesota Twins for the second wild card spot.
Danny Salazar, trying to win a spot on the postseason pitching staff, started for Cleveland and allowed one run on two hits, with four strikeouts and two walks in 2 innings. Manager Terry Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway said beforehand that Salazar would not pitch deep into the game. Right now, he looks like a candidate for the postseason bullpen.
The win went to Zach McAllister (2-2), who worked 1 scoreless innings in relief of Salazar.