Francisco Lindor and the Cleveland Indians continued their roll by toppling the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday. Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI |
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CLEVELAND -- Francisco Lindor homered and Carlos Santana belted two doubles, driving in one run and scoring another, as the Cleveland Indians won their 17th game in a row with a 4-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday at Progressive Field.
Cleveland's winning streak is the second longest in the majors since 1954. The 2002 Oakland Athletics enjoyed a 20-game run.
In their previous 16 wins, the Indians have outscored their opponents 118-30.
Josh Tomlin (9-9) pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and no walks to get the win. Cody Allen pitched the ninth to earn his 25th save.
Orioles starter Gabriel Ynoa (1-1), in his first major league start of the season, pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits. Baltimore has lost three in a row.
The Orioles took an early lead in the first inning. With one out, Manny Machado reached on an infield single. Jonathan Schoop flied out for the second out, but Machado moved to third. Adam Jones singled, scoring Machado with the first run of the game.
Ynoa retired the first seven batters he faced before Yan Gomes singled with one out in the third inning. Giovanny Urshela then bounced a double off the wall in center field, scoring Gomes to tie the game at 1.
In the fourth inning, Santana led off with a double and scored on a single by Jay Bruce, giving the Indians a 2-1 lead.
Tomlin retired Chris Davis for the last out in the first inning, and that was the first batter in a streak in which the pitcher retired 13 batters in a row.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Lonnie Chisenhall singled and then scored on another double by Santana, this one off the left field wall, as Cleveland took a 3-1 lead.
Baltimore halted Tomlin's streak of retiring 13 in a row when Tim Beckham led off the top of the sixth inning with a home run into the left field bleachers, his 20th of the year. The blast cut the Cleveland lead to 3-2 and knocked Tomlin from the game.
The Indians added another run in the seventh inning off Orioles reliever Darren O'Day. With one out, Lindor belted a 2-2 pitch over the right field wall for his 28th home run of the year, extending his club record for most home runs by a shortstop.
But four Indians relievers combined to hold the Orioles scoreless over the last three innings.
NOTES: Indians 3B Giovanny Urshela made his first career start at second base, replacing 2B Jose Ramirez, who missed his third consecutive game with a sore right wrist. . . Indians DH Edwin Encarnacion's infield single in the seventh inning allowed him to reach base for the 31nd consecutive game, the longest active streak in the majors. . . Orioles INF/OF Trey Mancini's 23 home runs rank as the third most by a rookie in franchise history behind Cal Ripken Jr.'s 28 in 1982 and Eddie Murray's 27 in 1977. . . The Orioles designated for assignment LHP Andrew Faulkner.