The Indians rallied late and pulled off the most difficult win of their entire 22-game win streak. Their streak, so close to being broken by the Royals, was extended to 22 straight wins and Cleveland officially claims the MLB record for longest win streak in baseball history.
Indians break MLB all-time win streak with extra innings walk-off thriller
It was their first walk-off win of the entire streak.
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
They went down 1-0 to the Royals early, but Cleveland managed to come back and tie it. Then tie it again in the bottom of the 9th inning when it was down to its last out and its last strike.
Thank goodness for Francisco Lindor!
In the 8th inning, Cleveland had the bases loaded and only one out, but the Royals got out of the jam thanks to two foul pop-ups. The Indians’ comeback in the 9th electrified the crowd and offered further hope.
Before Thursday night, the Indians had only trailed in four full innings out of 189 innings played throughout the streak. This game alone doubled that number, but it’s the win that matters and the percentage of innings they’ve trailed remains astonishing.
A sellout crowd watched them win number 22 in Cleveland, with the crowd invested in every plate appearance late in the game and the atmosphere more like a playoff appearance than a regular season game. So much of the streak has been great to watch because of the fans’ appreciation of it that it’s only right they had a close, exciting game to root for when their team broke the record.
Fittingly, it was the first walk-off win of their entire streak. Between that and the extra innings it’s like Cleveland really wanted to put something special on the table for the record-breaking victory.
Jay Bruce’s walk-off double sealed it for them in the end, just over a month since he was first traded to the team. As Jose Ramirez came around from second to score, it seemed like you could feel the stadium shaking through the television.
At the end of the day, this streak has been so electrifying and fun to watch in September that it’s only right for the Indians to finally need to get through a real thriller for them to extend it.
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