CLEVELAND _ The Indians finished the 2017 regular season with their win No. 102, defeating the Chicago White Sox 3-1 at Progressive Field on Sunday.
The Indians and White Sox had little to play for, with seeding in the postseason already wrapped up. The Indians will be the top seed in the American League and will take on the winner of Tuesday night's wild-card game between the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. The 102 wins are the second-most in franchise history, behind only the 1954 club, which won 111.
The Indians put together all of their offensive output in the first inning. White Sox starting pitcher Chris Volstad walked the first three hitters he faced to load the bases. After escaping Edwin Encarnacion by inducing a fly-out, Jay Bruce ripped a single to right field to score both Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis. Carlos Santana then added a sacrifice fly to center field to score Jose Ramirez and put the Indians on top 3-0.
That was enough for Josh Tomlin, who also did well to make his case to be on the postseason roster by allowing one run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings to go with six strikeouts. One of the major question marks regarding the Indians' ALDS roster is if they'll carry a fourth starting pitcher and if so, will it be Tomlin, Danny Salazar or Ryan Merritt. To add a layer, the Indians could carry three starting pitchers and then add Tomlin or Salazar to the roster in the bullpen to join Mike Clevinger as options to throw multiple innings.
Salazar was terrific in his final start of the season, striking out nine in 4 2/3 innings. Tomlin followed suit with a strong outing of his own on Sunday as both try to state their cases.
From there, Joe Smith, Tyler Olson, Zach McAllister, Andrew Miller, Shaw and Cody Allen got work on the final day of the regular season. Olson recorded one out, extending his scoreless streak to 30 appearances and 20 innings. He ended his season without an earned run allowed.
