Indians make franchise history in craziest game of MLB season

When you’re rolling like Cleveland sports teams are right now, nothing can stop you. Not even being involved in the craziest baseball game of the 2016 season in front of a raucous crowd at Rogers Centre on Canada Day.

That’s the challenge the Cleveland Indians faced on Friday afternoon. It’s also the challenge they overcame, as they emerged with a franchise-record 14th consecutive victory by topping the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 in 19 innings.

Where do we even begin with a game like this? Perhaps the ending? Cleveland scored its winning run in the 19th inning on a Carlos Santana home run.

But it wasn’t just any game-winning home run. It was a game-winning home run against Toronto infielder Darwin Barney, who was called in for emergency pitching duty. Barney ended up taking the loss, but he did have one big highlight, striking out veteran Mike Napoli.

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Santana’s home run was the latest by a Cleveland player since 1963. Considering the history attached to it, that’s quite fitting.

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Here’s perhaps the craziest part of the game though. Cleveland actually risked losing this game and the streak after wasting a bases loaded opportunity in the 18th inning against another position player, Ryan Goins. Toronto’s infielder got Chris Gimenez to ground into an inning-ending double play, which put him in position to win had Toronto plated just one run in their half of the 18th.

Obviously, the Blue Jays didn’t, so the longest game in MLB this season continued into the decisive 19th frame.

Cleveland got its first run in the third inning on Jason Kipnis’ RBI single. The Blue Jays tied the game in the sixth on Justin Smoak’s solo home run. From that point on, the bullpens settled in, recording 12 straight scoreless innings.

Overall, 19 pitchers were used (nine by Cleveland, 10 by Toronto). Cleveland’s Trevor Bauer earned the win after pitching the final five innings. Bauer has been used in a starting capacity most recently, including pitching a complete game on June 22 against Tampa Bay.

Also, because we know you’re dying to know, there were 606 total pitches (301 by Cleveland, 305 by Toronto) thrown in this six-hour, 13-minute game. Not to mention two Blue Jays — Edwin Encarnacion and Russell Martin — were ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

They may not have broken any records for longevity, but they certainly gave fans their money’s worth on a celebratory day in Toronto.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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