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Salazar rolls, Indians beat Braves 3-0 for 12th straight win

Posted at 10:20 PM, Jun 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-30 12:08:45-04

Danny Salazar threw seven innings, Lonnie Chisenhall hit his second homer of the series and the Cleveland Indians stretched their winning streak to 12 games by beating the Atlanta Braves 3-0 on Wednesday night.

Cleveland swept its fourth straight series to extend the majors' longest winning streak this season. The Indians began the day leading second-place Kansas City by six games in the AL Central.

The Indians need one more win to match the longest winning streaks in franchise history. They won 13 straight in 1942 and 1951. They had another 12-game streak in 1922.

Jason Kipnis broke a scoreless tie with a two-run single in the fifth.

 Salazar (10-3) was dominant, allowing five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. He lowered the AL's second-best ERA to 2.22 while winning his sixth straight start.

Cody Allen gave up a leadoff single to Nick Markakis in the ninth and walked Erick Aybar with two outs before ending the game on Emilio Bonifacio's grounder to second for his 16th save.

Braves right-hander Joel De La Cruz (0-1), recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett for his major league debut, allowed three runs in six innings.

De La Cruz opened with four scoreless innings before allowing the two-run single to Kipnis with two outs in the fifth.

De La Cruz found more two-out trouble in the sixth when Chisenhall's high homer landed midway up the lower level of the seats in right.

The Braves signed De La Cruz, 27, as a minor league free agent after he played in the Yankees' organization in 2015.

Right-hander Brian Shaw struck out Freddie Freeman to close the eighth with runners on first and second. It was the third strikeout of the game for Freeman, who shattered his bat as he slammed it to the ground in frustration. Freeman also bounced his helmet off ground.

Atlanta's Jace Peterson had two doubles to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games.

Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte made a leaping catch of Mike Napoli's drive at the wall in the seventh.