It was fun while it lasted.
In front of a packed house at Progressive Field, the Cleveland Indians' historic 22-game winning streak finally came to end Friday night, as the Kansas City Royals squeaked past their division rival, 4-3, to snap the longest winning streak in Major League Baseball in 101 years.
The Indians, felled for the first time since Aug. 23, came within four victories of matching the longest ever - and decidedly controversial - winning streak in baseball history, a 26-gamer by the 1916 New York Giants that, on account of a suspended game that was never completed, included a 1-1 tie. On Wednesday, with a 5-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, their 21st straight victory, the Indians laid claim to the longest winning streak ever by an American League club.
"You know, the (streak), it was fun," Indians reliever Joe Smith told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. "I still can't believe we lost. It was going to end at some point. Now all we've got to do is get everybody in good shape for October and win 11 games."
At the outset of their magical run, which began with a 13-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox, the Indians' lead atop the American League Central was 5 1/2 games. Now, more than three weeks later, the Indians are all but assured a second straight division title, boasting a 13-game advantage over the second-place Minnesota Twins with just over a fortnight to go in the regular season.
"Unreal run, still trying to grasp what this team accomplished," Indians right-hander Mike Clevinger wrote in a message posted on Twitter. "Thank you to every man in that clubhouse for showing up each and every day as well as The Land for all their support!"
