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          SweetSpot

          Real or not? Cleveland's 22nd straight win is most memorable yet

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          Bruce having 'the best' time playing for Cleveland (1:00)

          Jay Bruce shares his approach at the plate that resulted in a walk-off hit in extras and how much he's enjoying playing with the Indians. (1:00)

          • David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior WriterSep 15, 2017, 04:35 AM
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            • Covers MLB for ESPN.com
            • Former deputy editor of Page 2
            • Been with ESPN.com since 1995
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          I was cleaning out my closet last weekend and found a stack of old Sports Illustrated magazines. One of the issues I had saved was from August 2002, with a story on how to save baseball.

          Baseball always seems to be in this uphill fight against the critics, against the pace of the game, against performance-enhancing drugs, against its place in the sports landscape. It always manages to escape from those shadows, however, and give us moments of joy and artistry and exhilaration that bring us together as fans, helping us escape, for nine innings and sometimes 10, everything else that is going on.

          There was no way the Indians' Jose Ramirez should have had that double there in the 10th inning Thursday night. How did he make it? It was the best double of the season. It required desire and hustle and, most importantly, the simple belief that you're going to get there, the belief that you're going to extend this winning streak to 22 games. He lined a ball in the right-center gap; 99.5 percent of the players in the majors take a wide turn at first base and turn around. With no outs, you don't risk getting thrown out. Ramirez challenged Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain, beat the throw that went a little wide -- Cain seemed a little surprised -- and two batters later Jay Bruce sent the crowd and the Cleveland dugout into a frenzy with the game-winning hit down the right-field line.

          You don't think the players wanted this? Oh, they wanted it.

          "I didn't think it was going to be a double, and then I saw the center fielder slow down," Ramirez said on the postgame TV interview after the 3-2 victory. If Cain slowed down, it was maybe a half second of slow, but just long enough to let Ramirez make the instinctive decision to keep churning for second base.

          "This guy ... he plays the game with his hair on fire," Bruce said of Ramirez. "He's amazing."

          It was unlikely the Indians even got to the 10th. They were down to their final strike in the bottom of the ninth, trailing the Royals 2-1. With the crowd on its feet, stomping and clapping, and that drum banging and everyone basically acting like it was a playoff game, Kelvin Herrera threw a 2-2, 96-mph fastball to Francisco Lindor, who lined a game-tying double off the wall in left, inches over the glove of a leaping Alex Gordon.

          It was the first walk-off win of the streak for the Indians. As amazing as the streak has been, they've been so dominant they actually lacked a signature game, unlike the 2002 A's who had the Scott Hatteberg game and the Miguel Tejada game. Now the Indians have that moment to remember for ages. The question: Is it the Francisco Lindor game or the Jose Ramirez game or the Jay Bruce game?

          I guess that's how you win 22 in a row. It's everyone's game.

          Wild-card winner of the day. The Cardinals won and the Rockies lost, so that's good for the Cardinals and bad for the Rockies. With the Brewers off, that means the Cardinals and Brewers are 2.5 back of the Rockies, which means a four-way Cubs-Cardinals-Brewers-Rockies tie is still in play.

          Anyway, the star in the 5-2 win over the Reds was rookie starter Luke Weaver, who tossed six innings of two-hit baseball, allowing only an unearned run. He's 6-1 with a 1.89 ERA and has won five straight starts, and you wonder if the front office isn't wishing they'd called him up a little sooner. He throws 93 with location, but it's his curveball and changeup that may have made him so successful, giving him two effective off-speed pitches against lefties, who are hitting just .171 against him with a 32 percent strikeout rate.

          Weaver was a typical Cardinals draft pick: a college player (Florida State) taken late in the first round (27th overall in 2014). There were 14 pitchers selected ahead of him. Imagine if, say, the Brewers had selected Weaver instead of Hawaii high schooler Kodi Medeiros with the 12th pick. This is how the Cardinals stay competitive without ever drafting high.

          Wild-card loser of the night. Sorry, Royals. They fall two games under .500 and are running out of time to catch the Twins.

          Red Sox activate David Price. Scott Lauber has the report from Boston.

          "[He] recognizes the limited available of time to build back up, so logically this is a spot and he's accepting of the role," manager John Farrell said.

          Farrell said the Sox will ease Price into the relief role by giving him advance notice of when he will pitch (he won't be available until at least Sunday). They also prefer to have him start an inning rather than coming in with runners on base, and Farrell said they view Price as a multi-inning reliever.

          Can Price play a key role in the Boston pen in the postseason? Obviously, he'll have to prove he's healthy and not rusty these final two weeks. The two lefties in the Boston pen are Fernando Abad and Robby Scott, with Scott serving as true LOOGY (54 appearances, 33.2 innings). The setup guys in front of Craig Kimbrel are Joe Kelly, Addison Reed and Matt Barnes. Even Brandon Workman has been very good in the second half. Basically, it's already a solid pen with depth, so the idea of making him a long man who can go two or three innings certainly makes sense. Of course, if he comes out throwing 95 mph, Farrell is going to be tempted to use him in key situations late in games if he hasn't pitched. It'll be interesting to see how he fits in.

          An Aaron Judge home run highlight because we love an Aaron Judge highlight. This was his 42nd home run, and I love how the two outfielders momentarily started to chase after the ball like they might have a chance to catch it:

          Then he hit his 43rd, another three-run blast, and it was smoked:

          Avisail Garcia is hitting .333. That's now second in the majors to Jose Altuve. He went 5-for-5 with seven RBIs in the White Sox's 17-7 victory over the Tigers. I'll admit: After Garcia made the All-Star team, I didn't expect him to keep it up. He was riding a high BABIP in the first half and all the peripheral numbers suggested it was kind of a fluke hot streak.

          Instead, he's hit .373/.426/.530 in the second half while riding an even more unlikely BABIP (.441). His season BABIP is now .397, which would be one of the highest ever recorded, so there's some unsustainable hit rates going on here. Still, he's hitting line drives all over the field, even while continuing to have one of the highest chase rates in the majors. It doesn't add up, but the hits are falling.