Indians win their 22nd straight game with an extra-innings walk-off

It wasn’t the normal blowout win for our Tribe, but my gosh was it even sweeter, as the Tribe walked-off on the Royals Thursday night to claim a 3-2 victory and set the longest winning streak in Major League Baseball history*.

Let’s skip all the fluff and get to the real good parts..

Frankie!!

Francisco Lindor’s hero status in Cleveland just keeps on climbing. Lindor only had one hit Thursday and thankfully it was a huge one. With two out in the ninth and with the Indians trailing 2-1, everybody’s favorite shortstop hit a 96 mph fastball from flame-throwing Royals’ closer Kelvin Herrera to deep left field and just over the reach of the ageless Alex Gordon (actually no, he’s aged big-time). Pinch-runner Erik Gonzalez raced home and to tie the game. Cue Jay Bruce.

Mr. Jay Bruce redeems himself

Bruce had a golden chance in the bottom of the 8th inning. The bases were loaded, the Progressive Field crowd was rocking, and with just one out, things seemed grand. Nope. Nada. Not this time. Bruce popped up in foul territory, as did Carlos Santana next, and that was that.

Bruce had another chance to be the guy in extra innings and took advantage of this second go-around with destiny. The lefty crushed a 2-0 fastball to the corner in right field to drive home Jose Ramirez for the winning run. It was Bruce’s 94th RBI of the year and 831st of his career and dare I say it was his most gnarly of them all.

Jose Ramirez does it all... again

Ramirez had himself another fantastic game in what has become a truly fantastic season for the 24-year-old infielder. JRam went 4-4, with two doubles, and scored the winning run. That run in the 10th came off a hit to center field that looked like a single to every single human being besides Jose Ramirez. The speedster tested Royals’ center fielder Lorenzo Cain’s arm and won, sliding in before the tag.

Other fun notes

It was great to see Andrew Miller back in action, as the lefty threw a scoreless inning of relief. Starting pitcher Josh Tomlin worked around plenty of potential trouble, but only allowed two earned runs over 5 and ⅔ innings. Cody Allen earned the win after working a scoreless tenth.

Oh and the crowd was fantastic tonight. Good on you Cleveland.