CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Shortstop Francisco Lindor missed the first 19 games this year with right calf and left ankle injuries. The Indians went 12-7.

He rejoined the starting lineup on April 20 in the second game of a doubleheader against Atlanta and appeared in every game after that. The Indians went 81-62 in those games.

Was Lindor fried at the end of the season? More like deep fried. He hit .138 (4-for-29) in the last seven games of the season. In September, he hit .218 (24-for-110) with a .705 OPS. It was his lowest batting average and OPS of any month of the season.

This was an All-Star who needed a rest, a couple of days off, but he refused to take it. The Indians were in the race and he felt like he needed to play.

In case you’re wondering, he says he’s going to do the same thing in 2020.

“I will play every day," said Lindor, following the season finale on Sept. 29 at Nationals Park. "If I’m healthy, I will play every day. It’s a blessing, it’s an honor to play every single day. If I’m healthy, I’m a baseball player. I want to play whether I’m struggling or not. That’s just how it is.

“If we play 180-some games next year, I’m gonna try to play 180-some games. I don’t care. I’m a baseball player. I get paid to play baseball. If I’m healthy, I will do it.”

On the second-to-last game of the season this year, Lindor had trouble with a pop up in short left. It was clear he was frustrated and manager Terry Francona pinch hit for him in the fifth inning. It was a meaningless game because the Indians had been eliminated from the wild card race the night before in a loss to the Nationals.

But Lindor started the season finale on a Sept. 29. He doubled to start the game and homered in his next at-bat. The Indians lost to end the season on a five-game losing streak, but it meant something to him to play the last game of the year.

“I missed a bunch of games in the beginning and I just feel like I’ve got to finish things," he said. "That’s my (thing) this year, start to finish and I wanted to finish the game. There’s no reason just because we’re out not to play. I have plenty of time to rest. ... I just felt like I had to play.”

Lindor continued to compile big numbers in 2019. He hit .284 (170-for-598) with 40 doubles, 32 homers and 74 RBI. He scored 101 runs, stole 22 bases in 27 attempts and posted a .853 OPS.

He struggled against left-handers (.258) and with runners in scoring position (.202), but he’s just the fourth player in franchise history to have three straight years with more than 30 home runs. Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Albert Belle were the first three and none of them played Gold Glove-caliber defense.

Lindor, 26 in November, said he was proud of what the Indians accomplished this season.

“I’m proud of all the young guys that came up and stepped up and helped us win [93] games,” he said. "I’m proud of them. I’m proud of them overcoming a lot of things throughout the year. I’m happy for them.

"I’m not happy how we finished. So, it’s just a matter of coming back next year and winning I guess 102 games or something to try to be in the playoffs.”

Asked what happened during the Tribe’s five-game losing streak to end the season, Lindor said, "I didn’t hit. (Carlos) Santana didn’t hit. (Oscar) Mercado didn’t hit. That should do it.

"It’s baseball, man. I was trying. Santana was trying hard. Mercado was trying hard. It’s just baseball. Sometimes you hit sometimes you don’t. It just so happened it was in the last five games. If it would’ve been 20 games ago it would’ve been a different story.

"You live and learn. You learn from your mistakes. You learn from when your body gets tired, you find a way to battle through it and go out there and compete.”

Lindor made 142 starts -- 137 at shortstop, five at DH. His only appearance as a non-starter was April 27 when he pinch-hit against Houston.

Francona said he tried to give Lindor days off, but his shortstop always managed to talk his way back into the lineup. He is used to a heavy workload. Lindor recorded seasons of 604 at-bats, 651 at-bats and 661 at-bats from 2016 through 2018. He led or tied the AL in at-bats in 2017 and 2018.

“I think it was that way with a lot of guys,” said Francona, when asked about Lindor wearing down. “Part of it is we weren’t able to spread out a lot of games. For a team that won 93 games, winning was hard for us. We won a lot of 4-3, 2-1 games; you didn’t see a lot of 10-0 games. I think that takes a toll on the players, it takes a toll on your bullpen.”

The Indians trailed the Twins in the AL Central by 11 1/2 games on June 3. The ran them down and moved into first place for a day on Aug. 14, but couldn’t hold off Minnesota.

“We grinded this year,” said Lindor. “Every year you do the same thing, but we didn’t have (big) names that would carry a team for a month, one player. We had a lot of players that individually we were gonna make each other better and win games and we did win a lot of games this year. We just couldn’t be better than Minnesota or the two teams in the wild card (Oakland and Tampa Bay).”

Lindor, a free agent after the 2021 season, feels good about the Tribe’s future.

“We’ve got good players," he said. "We’ve got a good pitching staff. Mercado, Bradley Zimmer, Tyler Naquin, Greg Allen, they’re good players. We’ve got to make a couple adjustments to be more consistent, but they’re gonna be good players. The pitching staff, that will help us a lot. And we’ve got Roberto Perez, who is one of the best catchers in the game right now. He’ll help us win a lot of games, too. I think we’ll be fine. We’ve just got to be more consistent next year.”

And Lindor, despite what he says, just may need a couple of days off.

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