Roaring 20: Indians equal AL record with 20th straight victory

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber delivers against the Detroit Tigers during the ninth inning in a baseball game, Tuesday in Cleveland. (AP)

CLEVELAND: The Cleveland Indians share a record with a team celebrated by Hollywood.
“Moneyball” has its sequel.
Following a familiar script of scoring first, playing strong defense and riding dominant pitching, the Indians extended their winning streak to 20 games and matched the AL mark held by the 2002 Oakland Athletics, beating the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Cleveland’s streak, which began on Aug. 24 in Boston, is tied for the majors’ second-longest in 82 years — and the Indians show no signs of stopping.
Corey Kluber (16-4) strengthened his Cy Young Award case with a four-hitter as Cleveland joined the 2002 A’s, 1935 Chicago Cubs (21) and 1916 New York Giants (26) as the only teams since 1900 to win at least 20 in a row.
Francisco Lindor homered leading off the first inning against Matthew Boyd (5-10), and Kluber sealed win No. 20 — and Cleveland’s seventh shutout during the streak — by getting Miguel Cabrera on an easy grounder to third.
Dodgers 5 Giants 3: In San Francisco, Clayton Kershaw pitched Los Angeles to its first win in nearly two weeks, helping the Dodgers clinch a playoff berth by beating San Francisco to snap an 11-game losing streak that was the club’s worst since moving to the West Coast in 1958.
The Dodgers’ slide was their longest in 25 years, topping 10-game skids in Los Angeles during the 1961 and 1992 seasons. The 1944 Brooklyn team lost 16 straight games.
Despite the recent tailspin, Los Angeles still owns the best record in the majors at 93-52. The NL West leaders won for only the second time in 18 games and secured at least the second NL wild card, joining the NL East champion Washington Nationals as the only teams to punch their postseason tickets so far.
Kershaw (17-3) went six innings and tied Milwaukee’s Zach Davies for the major league lead in wins.
Kenley Jansen got four outs for his 37th save but allowed three straight singles with one out in the ninth to face a bases-loaded jam. He struck out Buster Posey and Nick Hundley to end it.
Justin Turner hit a key RBI double in the eighth and Chase Utley homered leading off the fourth, splashing into the water of McCovey Cove beyond the right-field wall for the first time in his career.
Brewers 5 Pirates 2: In Milwaukee, Eric Thames hit his 29th home run, Domingo Santana went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh.
The Brewers pulled within two games of the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs who were playing the New York Mets.
Gerrit Cole (11-10) took his first loss in 10 road starts since the Atlanta Braves beat him 5-2 on May 22. He slipped to 8-1 away from PNC Park over that stretch after allowing five runs and seven hits in six innings. He tied his season-high with 10 strikeouts in his fifth start against Milwaukee this season.
Manager Craig Counsell turned to the bullpen to protect the 5-2 lead. Jeremy Jeffress, Oliver Drake, Jared Hughes, Anthony Swarzak and Josh Hader each turned in a scoreless inning. Jeffress (3-0) was the pitcher of record. Corey Knebel pitched the ninth for his 35th save in 40 chances.
Red Sox 11 Athletics 1: In Boston, Mookie Betts hit two home runs and a two-run triple, and Boston rolled past Oakland.
The Red Sox, winners of five of their last six, pushed their American League East lead back to four games over the Yankees following New York’s loss to 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay.
Betts went 3 for 5 with six RBIs. He’s driven in three runs or more in a team-high 11 games.
The loss snaps a five-game win streak for the A’s. They managed just one run and one hit off Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5), who struck out nine over six innings.
Braves 8 Nationals 0: In Washington, Freddie Freeman hit a three-run home run off Gio Gonzalez and Julio Teheran threw seven shutout innings as Atlanta cruised past Washington.
Gonzalez (14-7) allowed five earned runs and seven hits in five innings and struck out eight. The left-hander did guarantee his $12 million option for next season with his first out of the game as he reached 180 innings this season.
The Nationals, who clinched the division Sunday when the Braves came back to beat the Miami in extra innings, lost for just the second time in eight games. This loss kept them from closing the gap on the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Blue Jays 3 Orioles 2: In Toronto, Richard Urena singled home the winning run in the ninth inning and Toronto handed slumping Baltimore its sixth straight loss.
Facing Orioles closer Zach Britton (2-1), who had recorded the final out of the eighth, Kevin Pillar drew a leadoff walk in the ninth and went to third on Teoscar Hernandez’s single. One out later, Pillar scored when Luke Maile singled off the glove of third baseman Manny Machado.
Urena followed with a single to center. Darwin Barney raced around from second and slid home safely ahead of the throw from Adam Jones.
Blue Jays left-hander Tim Mayza (1-0) got one out for his first career win.