CLEVELAND: The Indians went on an extended road trip following the All-Star break due to the Republican National Convention. But nothing does the soul good like some home cooking.
In their first game back in Cleveland, the Indians worked some Progressive Field magic to pull off a wild 7-6 comeback win over the Washington Nationals on a walk-off single by Francisco Lindor on Tuesday night.
The Indians came up in the ninth inning trailing 6-4 and facing Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon. Jose Ramirez opened with a walk and Tyler Naquin continued his torrid rookie season with a pinch-hit double to left-center that made it 6-5.
Chris Gimenez laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman threw it into right field. Naquin scored to make it 6-6, still with nobody out. Lonnie Chisenhall was intentionally walked and Rajai Davis popped a bunt past the charging Nationals infield for a single to load the bases.
Oliver Perez relieved Papelbon and got Jason Kipnis to hit a short fly to left but Lindor completed the comeback with a game-winning single to right field, his third hit of the night.
It all was enough to overcome three errors and one of Danny Salazar’s poorer outings this season.
It was a rough outing for Salazar, who lasted only four innings plus one batter, gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits and stuck out five. It was his shortest outing of the season and the first time since May 22 against the Boston Red Sox that he failed to pitch at least five innings.
Juan Uribe’s error in the first inning didn’t help matters. With a runner on third in the top of the first inning, Uribe couldn’t handle a ground ball off the bat of Daniel Murphy, allowing Trea Turner to score and put the Nationals ahead 1-0.
With two outs, Jayson Werth doubled to center field to score Murphy from first.
The Indians answered in the bottom of the first with a two-run inning of their own against Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez.
Davis came around to score on a passed ball after he walked to open the inning and Carlos Santana tied it 2-2 with a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Kipnis.
After Wilson Ramos opened the fourth inning with a double, Anthony Rendon crushed a Salazar pitch into the bleachers in left-center field, giving the Nationals their second two-run lead of the night. An inning later, Ramos added a solo home run off Jeff Manship.
Against the Nationals’ bullpen, the Indians began to chip away. In the seventh, the Indians cut the Nationals’ lead to 5-3. Abraham Almonte doubled and, with reliever Blake Treinen on the mound, Chisenhall singled him home. Davis followed with a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat.
In the eighth, Kipnis doubled and Lindor singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Mike Napoli worked to a full count against Nationals reliever Felipe Rivero but grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. It scored a run, making it 5-4, but also cleared the bases.
The same problems that plagued the Indians in the first inning came back to hurt them again in the ninth. Trying to hold the Nationals to a one-run lead, Uribe committed his second error of the day.
After Bryan Shaw hit Danny Espinosa and gave up a single to Ben Revere, the Nationals had the bases loaded with one out. Turner ripped a line drive to Napoli that was nearly an inning-ending double play. Instead, Napoli couldn’t grab it, was charged with an error and allowed the Nationals to push their lead to 6-4.
But it was all rendered moot with the wild walk-off ninth inning. For the Indians, it’s good to be home.
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.