Indians snap 11-game streak

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

For the first time in 13 days, there were actually some smiles in the Indians’ clubhouse following a game.

And with good reason.

The Indians broke their 11-game losing streak — a stretch that consisted of blowouts and mind-boggling late defeats — with a 6-2 win over Minnesota on Wednesday.

Cleveland, which was outscored 95-36 during the slide, avoided tying the 1931 franchise record for consecutive losses with its first win since July 26.

Justin Masterson pitched seven strong innings and Shin-Soo Choo went 4 for 4 with two RBIs to finally give the Indians something to feel positive about.

“I’m sure there was relief in all of Cleveland and every Cleveland fan in the country,” Masterson said. The right-hander then drew a long sigh and said, “We can win.”

Manager Manny Acta, who tried to stay upbeat during the skid, admitted his team had started to fall into the inevitable trap that occurs when a streak keeps growing.

“You start playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” he said. “That’s human nature.”

Acta admitted the streak was difficult to deal with since this was a team-wide collapse. The starting pitching and offense topped the list, but those areas have been inconsistent all season.

All-Star closer Chris Perez blew two saves in three days, the infield defense — one of the team’s strengths — committed three errors in the last three innings Tuesday, blowing a 5-1 lead.

“You feel helpless at times because you have very little control of a lot of things,” he said. “I had never seen anything like this before and I hope I never see it [again].”

Acta praised his players for keeping their heads up as the defeats mounted.

“Our guys stayed pretty strong mentally the whole time,” he said. “It’s a credit to them.”

The Indians went from 3 1/2 games to 9 1/2 games behind Chicago in the AL Central during the streak and Choo admitted staying upbeat has been difficult.

“Baseball is not easy,” he said. “I’ve talked to a lot of the players and coaches. We’ve played hard and tried to stay positive.”

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, whose team was 15-32 on May 27, is familiar with what the Indians have gone through.

“We’ve been there,” he said. “There isn’t any room for feeling sorry for anybody else because we all go through it. They’re battling their tails off. Eventually it will turn around for them, but, boy, when you’re going through it, it doesn’t feel like it’s going to turn around.”