DYK: 11 facts about Blue Jays-Indians marathon

July 2nd, 2016

The Indians extended their winning streak to a franchise-record 14 games in dramatic fashion Friday, outlasting the Blue Jays in a 19-inning marathon punctuated by Carlos Santana's game-winning homer.
With the 2-1 victory, the first-place Tribe improved to 49-30 on the year, putting them 19 games above .500 for the first time since they finished the 2013 season with a 92-70 record.
Here's a look at some facts and figures from Cleveland's wild day at Rogers Centre:
• The Indians' 14-game winning streak is the longest in the Majors since the Atlanta Braves won 14 in a row from July 6 to Aug. 9 in 2013. It's been more than a decade since an American League team reached that mark. The last time an AL team won 14 or more consecutive games was when the the A's won 20 straight in 2002.
• Cleveland's previous record for win streaks was 13, set in 1942 (April 18-May 2) and 1951 (Aug. 2-15).
• Friday's game was the longest of the season in both innings (19) and time (6 hours and 13 minutes). It's the first Major League game to reach 19 frames since the Red Sox beat the Yankees on April 10 last season -- which is also the last game to take longer than six hours to complete -- and the 14th such contest since 2000.

• It tied the longest game, in innings, in Blue Jays franchise history (Aug. 10, 2014 vs. Detroit), and was the longest for the Indians since they played a club-record 22 innings against the Twins on Aug. 31, 1993.
• This was the longest game since at least 1914 that extended a winning streak of 14 or more. The New York Giants held the previous record, beating Pittsburgh in 14 innings on Aug. 28, 1936, for a 15th consecutive win.
• The Indians are now the seventh road team to win in 19-plus innings since 1993.

• The Blue Jays set a franchise record by using 10 pitchers Friday, and even sent two position players -- Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney -- to the mound. It was 13th and 14th time in Toronto history that the Blue Jays used a position player as a pitcher (10 pitchers total). The last team to have two position players pitch in the same game was the Padres against the Mariners on May 31 (Christian Bethancourt and Alexi Amarista).
• Barney took the loss, surrendering a go-ahead solo homer to Santana in the 19th. He's the first position player to earn a loss as a pitcher since the White Sox's Leury Garcia on April 16, 2014 vs. the Red Sox. The last five to do so are Garcia, Philadelphia's Casper Wells (Aug. 24, 2013 vs. the D-backs), Boston's Darnell McDonald (May 6, 2012 vs. the Orioles), St. Louis' Joe Mather (April 17, 2010 vs. the Mets) and San Diego's Josh Wilson (June 7, 2009 vs. the D-backs).

• Santana's game-winning homer is the latest home run (in innings) for the Tribe since Willie Kirkland hit a walk-off solo homer in the 19th inning in the second game of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators on June 14, 1963.
• According to Elias Sports Bureau, the 13 shutout innings pitched by the Indians' bullpen was a club record. Eight different Cleveland relievers combined to limit the Blue Jays to just four hits and six walks, striking out 10 batters.
• Trevor Bauer earned the win for Cleveland, becoming the second Indians pitcher since 2000 to pitch five or more innings of relief for a win. The other is Jeremy Sowers, who beat the Rays on May 25, 2009.