TORONTO — A dominant performance from Carlos Carrasco gave the Cleveland Indians their longest winning streak in nearly 65 years.
Carrasco struck out a season-high 14, Jason Kipnis and Rajai Davis hit solo home runs and the Indians matched a franchise record by winning their 13th consecutive game Thursday night, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1.
Manager Terry Francona said Carrasco “pitched his heart out.”
“That’s a good lineup and he really pitched well,” Francona said.
Cleveland’s streak is the longest by any team this season, and the longest for the Indians since they won 13 straight in August 1951. Cleveland also won 13 in a row in 1942.
It’s the longest streak by an AL team since Oakland won 20 straight in 2002.
The Indians went 22-6 in June, the best single month in team history.
“It feels great,” Carrasco said. “We’ve played really hard and we need to continue that. Everything is coming together.”
Indians starting pitchers are 10-0 during the streak, and Cleveland has outscored its opponents 80-26.
“We expect to win every night we step on the field,” Davis said. “We’ve just got to keep that mindset and not worry about everything else.”
Still, Francona doesn’t want his players getting too excited.
“You turn the page pretty quick,” he said. “If you start taking time to sit back and evaluate (what happened) two weeks ago, then tomorrow might not be so good.”
Coming off a four-hit shutout victory at Detroit, Carrasco (4-2) allowed one run and three hits in 7 1/3 innings to win back-to-back starts for the first time since April 13 and 19. The right-hander was sidelined from April 25 to June 2 with a strained left hamstring.
“No doubt about it, it was Carrasco’s night,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He was on.”
Carrasco’s career-high in strikeouts is 15, set last Sept. 25 at Kansas City. Against Toronto, he struck out four straight in the third and fourth innings, then fanned six straight in the sixth, seventh and eighth.
Bryan Shaw replaced Carrasco after Darwin Barney ended the strikeout streak with a double. Shaw struck out pinch hitter Russell Martin, walked Ezequiel Carrera, then fanned Josh Donaldson to end the inning.
Cody Allen got the last three outs for his 17th save.
Davis hit a leadoff shot off R.A. Dickey in the second and Kipnis hit a one-out drive in the third.
“They ran into a few that didn’t do much,” Dickey said.
Dickey (5-9) allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings. The knuckleballer has allowed six home runs in his past two starts, all of them solo shots. He is 0-6 with a 5.14 ERA in eight home starts.
Donaldson provided Toronto’s only offense with a two-out solo homer off Carrasco in the fourth.
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