Cleveland Indians Winning Streak Reaches 18

The Cleveland Indians defeated the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 on Sunday to extend their winning streak to 18 in a row. Trevor Bauer won his ninth consecutive decision, while Francisco Lindor hit home run No. 29 and Cody Allen closed the game out.

Cleveland has hit 37 homers during its winning streak and has been so dominant Sunday’s game was just the third game decided by one-run during their ongoing streak.

The last Major League Baseball team with a streak longer than the Indians current 18 straight was the Oakland A’s in 2002 with one that lasted 20 straight, with the 20th win the famous home run game of Scott Hatteberg in which Oakland squandered a lead of 11-0 only to win in with a walk-off homer by Hatteberg.

Cleveland can pass the A’s if they can sweep Detroit at home in a series that begins Monday. If the Indians succeed they would tie the Cubs of 1935 for the longest ever winning streak in Major League Baseball.

The record for the longest unbeaten streak is held by the Giants of 1916, who won 26 straight but tied one game.

Cleveland will send Carlos Carrasco, Corey Kluber and end the series with Mike Clevinger against Detroit. The Tigers have scheduled for their starters Matt Boyd, Myles Jay and Buck Farmer.

There is just one poor outing needed for the streak to end or one excellent start from an opposing pitcher. However, the way that the three starters scheduled for Cleveland have been throwing of late, odds are the Indians will have a strong shot at continuing the streak to 21 straight.

Offensively, Lindor has been on a tear during the streak with a slash line of .307/.369/.560 and 8 homers. The 29 home runs for Lindor thus far are the third most ever for any shortstop prior to turning 24, with the first two being Alex Rodriguez.

In what is a good example of how good things have been and currently are going for Cleveland, Lindor had to borrow the bat of Abraham Almonte after he broke his and it was with that bat he hit home run No. 29.

The bat is similar at the handle of his, but weighs more.

The Indians are currently 13 games in front of the second place Minnesota Twins in the American League Central and have a record of 87-56 with just 19 games left in the regular season.