Tribe finishes season with loss to Nationals

The Indians closed out 2019 with an 8-2 setback in Washington. Jeff Schudel weighs in on the Tribe’s 93-69 season and what lies ahead in the offseason.

WASHINGTON >> As manager Terry Francona put it, the Indians “fought until they were literally out of gas.”

They ran out in the final week of the season, dropping their last five games. The season concluded with an 8-2 loss to the playoffbound Nationals on Sept. 29.

Indians starter Mike NATIONALS 8, INDIANS 2

Clevinger (13-4) was charged with six runs over 5 2/3 innings and failed to collect what would have been a career-best 14th win.

“I went into it trying to have some fun,” Clevinger said, “and it wasn’t a whole lot of fun.”

Francisco Lindor hit his 32nd home run of the season and doubled for the Tribe.

The Indians were officially knocked out of postseason contention Sept. 27. Still, their 93-69 mark is better than the 91-71 record a year ago, when Francona’s team won its third consecutive AL Central title.

“Are we where we want to be? No,” Francona said, “but we’re not going to quit until we get there.”

Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki — who missed most of September with a bad right elbow — hit his 17th homer, a two-run shot in the third inning. Juan Soto delivered an RBI double in the first, and Brian Dozier and Gerardo Parra each drove in two runs in the sixth. Parra tacked on a run-scoring hit in the eighth. Parra, whose spot on the postseason roster has been in doubt, is 7 for 9 with 11 RBI over the last three days. Joe Ross (4-4) went six innings for Washington.