Tribe's impressive streak snapped by Cubs

CLEVELAND — As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And after the Tribe’s pitching staff had gotten off to a historic start, its run has officially come to a close. The Indians had held their opponents to four-or-fewer runs in each of their first 17

CLEVELAND — As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And after the Tribe’s pitching staff had gotten off to a historic start, its run has officially come to a close.

The Indians had held their opponents to four-or-fewer runs in each of their first 17 games. The only team in the Modern Era (since 1900) to have a longer such streak to start a season was the 1981 A’s, who did so in their first 21 games. But Cleveland’s chase for first place came to a screeching halt in a 7-1 loss to the Cubs at Progressive Field on Tuesday night.

On a night when the Tribe had to make a last-minute switch to their starting pitching plans after Mike Clevinger was placed on the restricted list due to violating team protocols, Adam Plutko pieced together four solid innings, permitting just one run. But the bullpen that had posted the third-best ERA (1.51) in the Majors entering Tuesday (behind the Cardinals, who have played only five games, and the Dodgers), had its first off night.

Rookie Cam Hill gave up four runs on two hits in two-thirds of a frame while Phil Maton and Logan Allen were each charged with a run. Hill had previously given up one run on two hits in his first six career appearances, and the Indians’ relief corps as a whole had the third-best strikeouts per nine (11.23) and homers per nine ratios (0.43). They were also second in walks per nine innings (2.16), trailing only the Cardinals.

While their streak of 17 games of four-or-fewer runs has been impressive, it’s also been necessary. The offense had averaged 3.5 runs per game entering the series opener against the Cubs, which ranked third-worst of all 30 teams, causing the team to rely heavily on its pitching staff over the first two-and-a-half weeks of the season. Not much changed with the bats on Tuesday night, as Cleveland tallied a mere four hits on the night.