ARLINGTON, Texas – Aaron Civale allowed only three singles while pitching six scoreless innings, Yu Chang homered and the Cleveland Indians closed out their 107th and final season under that name with a 6-0 win over the 102-loss Texas Rangers on Sunday.
The Indians (80-82), who will become the Guardians by next season, finished with their first losing season since 2012. That ended a streak of eight consecutive winning seasons, matching the longest in the history of the franchise that was one of the American League’s charter teams in 1901 and became the Indians in 1915.
Recommended Videos
Four relievers, including right-hander Bryan Shaw, followed Civale (12-5) to close out Cleveland's ninth shutout this season. Shaw retired the only batter he faced in his 81st game — appearing in exactly half the games this season — and extended his franchise record to 459 career relief appearances.
Rangers rookie right-hander Dane Dunning (5-10) allowed four runs and five hits over three innings. He struck out three, walked, one, hit one and threw a wild pitch that allowed a run.
The Rangers were shut out for the 15th time and finished with their most losses since 105 in 1973, the franchise's second season in Texas after moving from Washington. It was their fifth consecutive losing season.
The Indians wore their dark road jerseys with Cleveland across the front, and no reference to the name that the team announced earlier this year it was changing in the wake of a nationwide reckoning over racist names and symbols.
Cleveland will take the field in 2022 under the new name selected from over 1,000 entries submitted during the renaming process. The new Guardians logo and uniforms were unveiled to mixed reviews in July.
Civale struck out four and walked one over his 82 pitches after going 1-3 in five September starts. The right-hander led the majors in wins with his 10-2 record before spraining the middle finger on his right hand while pitching against the Chicago Cubs on June 21, and didn’t return until last month.
The Indians quickly jumped ahead to stay when Myles Straw led off the game with a single, stole second and scored on Amed Rosario’s single. It was 6-0 after Chang’s ninth homer, a two-run shot in the fifth off reliever Mike Foltynewicz.
SOME QUICK HISTORY
Shoeless Joe Jackson was among the players in the starting lineup for the 1915 season opener when Cleveland played for the first time as the Indians. The franchise’s first season was 1901 as the Blues, then went by the Broncos in 1902 and the Naps from 1903-14. ... Hall of Fame shortstop Lou Boudreau played the most games in an Indians uniform, 1,560 from 1938-50. There are two players in franchise history who played more games overall, but Terry Turner played all but 342 of his 1,619 games before 1915. Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie played all 1,614 of his games from 1902-14.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rangers: RHP Matt Bush was activated from the 60-day injured list after not pitching for Texas since April 7 because of right elbow inflammation. The 35-year-old struck out one pitching a perfect sixth.
UP NEXT
Indians: Their first game as the Guardians will be in the 2022 season opener at home March 31 against Kansas City.
Rangers: Texas opens the 2022 season at home March 31 against the New York Yankees.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports