The Indians ended their strong second half on a positive note, defeating the Red Sox, 3-1, in the season finale at Progressive Field to clinch their third consecutive winning season.
Rick Porcello got the nod for Boston and ran up his pitch count early, throwing at least 20 pitches in each of his first three innings before settling down to complete seven strong frames. Porcello allowed three runs on 10 hits, striking out seven while walking one. The start dropped his season ERA under 5.00 for the first time since May 16. He finishes the season 9-15 with a 4.92 ERA.
Danny Salazar gave up a run in the first inning on an RBI double by David Ortiz (108 RBIs), but he worked the rest of the outing unscathed. He was pulled after 92 pitches, 61 of which went for strikes, allowing just one earned run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking one.
“I thought he was pretty good,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “I thought as he got into the game, you started to see him get after his fastball a little bit. I thought it was a good finish for Danny. I didn’t want him to throw 120 pitches today, but I thought he did a good job.”
With the victory, the Indians finish the season at a peculiar record of 81-80, due to a rainout against Detroit that was not made up. The Indians joined New York (AL), Kansas City, Washington, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles (NL) as the only seven teams to have posted a winning record each year since 2013. The last time the Indians had at least three consecutive winning seasons was 1994-2001, when they had eight consecutive winning seasons.
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