The Cleveland Indians made history on Tuesday night, shutting out the Tigers to win their 20th straight game to tie the 2002 Oakland Athletics for the American League’s longest winning streak. And Tuesday’s 2-0 victory was dominant, like just about every other game during this insane stretch.
Indians star shortstop Francisco Lindor led off the first inning with a home run, his 30th of the season.
That’s more than Lindor had combined through his first two year in the bigs, so don’t let him fool you into thinking he’s not a power hitter.
Cleveland eventually added an insurance run in the sixth, as if they needed it with Corey Kluber on the mound. Kluber completed his third shutout of the season on 113 pitches, striking out eight and allowing just five hits. The Tigers got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth, but Kluber finished them off with a groundout to third.
TWENTY ON A TUESDAY! #KluberDay results in a complete game shut out and the @Indians win streak continues. pic.twitter.com/53VfuJ3EBH
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) September 13, 2017
Streaks like this don’t come along often, so the Indians’ unfathomable domination received plenty of attention on social media.
So the @Indians get a movie now, right? pic.twitter.com/0PbtUwjAcS
— MLB (@MLB) September 13, 2017
The idea of any baseball team winning 20 in a row is just silly. The sport is not made for that.
The Cleveland Indians, apparently, are.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 13, 2017
Innings during Indians' win streak: 180
Innings in which Indians have trailed: 4Indians have outscored opposition 134-32 during the streak
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) September 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/martinrickman/status/907785143242379265
20 straight wins for the @Indians congratulations fellas!!! #TheLand
— JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) September 13, 2017
Indians, last 20 games: 20-0
Browns, last 86 games: 20-66— Devan Fink (@DevanFink) September 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/AndyGlockner/status/907787462214217728
Good thing the Indians aren't peeling pieces of clothing off a cardboard cutout of the owner after every victory.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) September 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/emmaspan/status/907785393873063936
Indians rotation 18-0, 1.71 ERA during 20-game win streak. @Indians relievers 2-0, 1.34 ERA.
— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) September 13, 2017
And because baseball is filled with good sports and nobody ever gets unreasonably upset about random things, the Athletics congratulated the Indians on Twitter.
Crazy! Just plain crazy! Congratulations to the @Indians on joining the 20 Consecutive Club. #WINdians pic.twitter.com/HwZlkI0wym
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) September 13, 2017
And when you look at the numbers, the Indians have been even more dominant in their winning streak than the A’s were in theirs.
Here's how the 20-game winning streaks in the AL stack up. Indians have thrown 7 shutouts in this span (A's had 2 during their streak). pic.twitter.com/l8tSzvD34F
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 13, 2017
The 1935 Chicago Cubs won 21 straight games, but that’s the pre-expansion era record. Even if you stand with the Cubs, Cleveland will likely extend their streak to 21 wins on Wednesday.
The Indians have now outscored the Tigers 42-5 in their six meetings during the win streak. With Mike Clevinger — who threw six shutout innings against the Tigers two weeks ago, on the mound tomorrow night, the Indians could have history all to themselves at this time tomorrow.
