CLEVELAND: The Indians received only one inning from starter Danny Salazar but came back to win in walk-off fashion in the ninth, beating the Chicago White Sox 5-4 Thursday night at Progressive Field.
Abraham Almonte led off the ninth with a double against White Sox reliever Jacob Turner and advanced to third on a passed ball. Tyler Naquin, who entered the game to pinch hit with a 1-0 count after Roberto Perez no longer needed to bunt, then completed a grinder of a comeback with a sacrifice fly to center field to win it. It was the Indians’ sixth walk-off win of the season.
It was also one of the Indians’ more unlikely wins this season. Salazar returned from the disabled list on Thursday, but his first outing back didn’t go as planned. Mainly, it didn’t last nearly as long as the Indians had hoped.
Salazar, who was on the DL with elbow inflammation, walked three of the first four batters he faced to load the bases with only one out. He found the strike zone against Justin Morneau — but Morneau drilled a bases-clearing double off the wall in left field to put the White Sox up 3-0 early.
Salazar retired the next two batters to end the inning but already had 34 pitches, and Indians manager Terry Francona had seen enough and pulled him from the game.
Salazar continued to work in the bullpen and threw for several innings as Kyle Crockett and then Michael Clevinger came on in relief. It the shortest outing of Salazar’s career.
Trailing 3-0 for much of the night, the Indians began to chip away in the fifth inning. After Carlos Santana doubled against White Sox starting pitcher Carlos Rodon, Jose Ramirez continued his torrid season with runners in scoring position by sending a single up the middle to make it 3-1.
An inning later, with a runner on first, Jason Kipnis doubled to the wall in left field when the ball became lodged in the padding halfway up. Francisco Lindor singled to right to score a run but, after Santana was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs, Ramirez couldn’t come through a second time and grounded out to end the inning.
In the seventh, a double by Tim Anderson ended Clevinger’s night in favor of Dan Otero. Omar Narvaez followed with a single to left to extend the White Sox’s lead to 4-2.
The Indians got that run back in the bottom half of the inning. Almonte doubled and was followed by Rajai Davis, who doubled to the left-field corner.
In the eighth, Ramirez — among baseball’s best with runners on — came through again, singling home Mike Napoli with two outs to tie it 4-4.
That led to the game-winning ninth inning and the completion of an improbable comeback made possible by the bullpen’s superior work — one inning by Crockett, four by Clevinger, two by Otero and the final inning by Andrew Miller (7-1, 1.47 ERA).
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com.