CLEVELAND: The Indians didn’t have any walk-off wins through April and May.
Now, it’s two consecutive games, two consecutive walk-off wins.
With the Indians behind 4-3 entering the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday, Carlos Santana singled against Royals closer Joakim Soria (2-2, 3.81) and advanced to second on an error. Francisco Lindor tripled home Santana to tie the game and then beat the throw home on a sacrifice fly by Mike Napoli to give the Indians a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field.
On Wednesday night, Yan Gomes singled home the winning run to beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 in walk-off fashion.
It was a furious finish to Carlos Carrasco’s return to the mound. Carrasco allowed three earned runs on nine hits and one walk and struck out two in his first start since straining his left hamstring April 24 in Detroit.
Tommy Hunter (2-1, 3.75) got the win in relief.
The Royals (30-23) got to Carrasco first with a home run and then with a string of singles that got through the infield.
In the third, with the Indians leading 1-0, Royals backup catcher Drew Butera took Carrasco deep for a two-run home run, his first of the season. An opposing player has now hit his first home run of the season against the Indians in three straight series, after Baltimore’s Hyun Soo Kim and Texas’ Jurickson Profar also did so.
In a 2-2 tie, the Royals hit three consecutive two-out singles to retake the lead. Reymond Fuentes started the rally, Cheslor Cuthbert put him in scoring position and Jarrod Dyson brought him home to put the Royals up 3-2. In another growing trend, it was the bottom of the Royals’ order that plagued the Indians, which has happened several times this season.
Austin Adams entered in the sixth and was promptly taken deep by Cuthbert, giving the Royals a 4-2 edge.
The Indians’ initial two runs were driven in by two hitters who have quietly been among the most productive on the team this season. In the second inning, Lonnie Chisenhall drove in Napoli with an RBI single to right field, raising his batting average to .292. That has helped fill the void after Marlon Byrd was suspended 162 games by Major League Baseball for failing a test that revealed performance-enhancing drugs.
In the third, Jose Ramirez added an RBI single to score Lindor, who had singled and advanced to second on an error. That raised Ramirez’s average to .322, the highest mark on the team, even though he hasn’t had a regular position in the field to date.
The Indians (28-24) threatened in the eighth but came up just short. With two on and one out, the Royals got the double-play ball they needed, but Omar Infante couldn’t make an accurate throw and the inning continued.
Tyler Naquin then dropped an RBI single into right field to cut the deficit to 4-3. Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera then struck out Rajai Davis, though, to end the inning.
That set the stage for the Indians’ latest late-game heroics.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ.