CLEVELAND, OH – SEPTEMBER 16: Francisco Lindor #12 of the Cleveland Indians scores past Drew Butera #9 of the Kansas City Royals on a single by Austin Jackson #26 during the sixth inning at Progressive Field on September 16, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. Ron Schwane/Getty Images/AFP
Cleveland’s historic winning streak may have ended at 22 games, but shortstop Francisco Lindor’s streak was still going strong after the Indians bounced back Saturday with an 8-4 win over the Kansas City Royals.
Lindor hit a run-scoring double in the sixth inning, his 10th straight game with an extra-base hit. That’s a club record, and left him four shy of the major league record of 14.
Lindor had three hits on the night and Edwin Encarnacion homered as the Indians rebounded briskly from their 4-3 loss to the Royals on Friday night.
That was the Indians’ first defeat since August 23. Their 22 straight wins established an American League record and surpassed the 21-game streak put together by the National League’s Chicago Cubs in 1935, but came up short of the Major League record 26-game winning streak of the 1916 New York Giants.
“We had good energy. I was happy about that. It’s nice to see them go right back out there and try to be as good a team as we can be,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.
“They outplayed us yesterday, but that’s in the past. Today was another day,” Lindor added.
The Indians got back to work without a hitch, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning before Kansas City’s Alex Gordon homered in the top of the third to make it 1-1.
Cleveland sent seven batters to the plate in the bottom of the third, and two of them scored. After the Royals pulled back a run in the top of the fourth, the Indians piled on four runs in the bottom of the frame to take control.
The Indians led 7-4 when Encarnacion led off the seventh inning with a homer against Royals relief pitcher Kevin McCarthy.
With the victory, and the Minnesota Twins’ loss to the Toronto Blue Jays later Saturday, the Indians clinched their second straight American League Central division title.